Milo Murphy's Life: Falling for Perfection
by tlong0038
Summary: Milo Murphy's Life is a direct continuation of the canonical events of Milo Murphy's Law. Falling for Perfection takes place immediately after the events of The Duckburg Incident. Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda have decided to spend a few days camping in Coyote Woods in the hopes of taking a breather from the chaos of Murphy's Law.
1. Chapter 1

Episode Fourteen

The city of Danville baked under a late July heat wave. Standing under the hot sun, Milo hefted his hiking pack to sit higher on his shoulders and let his backpack swing idly from his right hand as Zack, Melissa and Amanda piled out of the battered old Range Rover and collected their hiking packs from the trunk. Milo watched as his three friends hoisted their hiking packs, which were loaded with everything they would need for a week of camping in Coyote Woods, from tents to wolf repellent to food and toilet paper. Milo walked around to the driver's side door. His father, Martin Murphy, rolled down the window.

"Bye Dad," said Milo.

"Bye Milo," said Martin. "I'll be back to in a week to pick you up."

"OK, Dad," replied Milo. He turned and walked away from where Martin had parked, leading Zack, Melissa and Amanda toward the trailhead. The four teenagers disappeared into the cool shade of the trees, their shoes crunching loudly on the gravel lined hiking path. They walked for about an hour and a half, talking, laughing and trading jokes. For Milo, it was at times like these, simply talking and laughing with his friends, "the three best friends in the world," as he frequently called them, that he felt the closest to being a normal teenager. Milo had been born with an unusual hereditary condition, Extreme Hereditary Murphy's Law. Put simply, Murphy's Law said that anything that can go wrong inevitably will, and things were constantly going wrong in Milo's life. Extreme Hereditary Murphy's Law caused Milo's body to create a field of negative probability, which automatically skewed all energy fields in Milo's immediate vicinity toward negative outcomes. Camping was one of the few activities that Milo could partake where the risk of Murphy's Law turning his life into utter chaos was relatively low.

Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda reached their campsite sometime around mid morning. It consisted of a grassy clearing bordered by a sandy beach, which led down into a crystal clear lake, on one side and close growing trees on the other side. Several nature trails snaked away into the woods. A small cinderblock building containing a bathroom and an attached shower stood in one corner and a picnic table with faded and peeling paint stood in the other. A large fire pit dominated the centre of the campsite.

Milo surveyed their campsite. "Looks like a good spot," he said. He dropped his backpack and let his hiking pack fall to the ground next to it with a heavy thud. Next to him, Zack, Melissa and Amanda were putting down their packs. Milo stretched his shoulders, feeling his spine decompress, after being relieved of the weight of his hiking pack. He bent over, unzipped his hiking pack and began rummaging through its contents, pulling out a camping stove and cylinder of propane, a tightly rolled sleeping bag, tent pegs and a rubber mallet. He tried to toss them to Zack, who was busy laying out their tent. Melissa and Amanda had already finished and were blowing up their air mattresses. The tent pegs landed in the dirt next to Zack's right foot. The rubber mallet struck Zack's foot, ricocheted off and struck the foot pump that Amanda had been using to blow up her air mattress, breaking the pedal.

Amanda walked over to where Milo and Zack were hammering the tent pegs into the ground. "Milo, our air pump is broken," she said.

Milo looked up. "I packed an extra one in my backpack," he said, nodding with his head toward his backpack. At the same moment, Zack missed his blow with the mallet and instead of coming down on the head of the tent peg, it came down on Milo's hand and he felt something snap in his wrist.

Zack had the good grace to look slightly shame faced. "Sorry, Milo," he said.

Milo gave a characteristic causal shrug. "Don't worry about it," he said. "It's just Murphy's Law." Milo turned to Amanda, "can you get me my splint and bandages?" Amanda nodded and walked over to Milo's backpack, which was hardly ever out of his sight. She bent down and began rummaging through it, pushing aside sundry items, including flashlights, batteries, sandals, Milo's board shorts, extra food, his toothbrush, a bar of soap and cooking utensils. She pulled out the extra foot pump, which she put on the ground and resumed rummaging, pushing aside his grappling hook, which was attached to a long length of rope and found his first aid kit, which included, among other things, splints, pain killers and bandages. Zack held the splint steady as Milo wrapped his forearm in a tensor bandage and pulled it tight. He could feel the bones grating against each other as they were forced back into place. He reached into his first aid kit again and pulled a bottle of pain killers. Milo popped a couple pills into his mouth and washed them down with a swig or water from his canteen. The throbbing in his wrist began to ebb almost at once.

It took the rest of the morning to finish unpacking all their gear and setting up the campsite. After lunch, which consisted of peanut butter sandwiches, they changed into their bathing suits and spent the afternoon alternately splashing around in the water and sunning themselves on the crescent shaped sandy beach. In the late afternoon, Zack tried his hand at fishing with Milo's rod and tackle box and actually managed to catch several large mouth bass and as a result, they had an excellent dinner that night of freshly caught fish and they turned in tired and happy.

When the sun came up the next morning, the four of them got up early. After an early breakfast and a early morning swim. They spent the morning hiking the natural trails that snaked away into the woods and exploring around their campsite. The area was filled with wild life and they spotted blue jays, cardinals and hummingbirds flitting among the redwood trees. In midmorning they caught a brief glimpse of a family of deer nibbling on the bushes that lined the edge of a large beaver pond. In the afternoon, Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda returned to their campsite. They spent the afternoon swimming and fishing. On the third day, they tried to go canoeing, but that only lasted until Murphy's Law caused Amanda to put her foot through the bottom of the canoe, dumping all of them into the middle of the lake and forcing them to swim back to shore. They spent the afternoon drying their clothes on a clothes line that Melissa set up between a pair of trees.

Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda were up extra early on the fourth day of their camping trip. They left camp just before the sun came up. By the light of a headlamp, Milo produced a clean pair of socks from his hiking pack and pulled them on over his bare feet. He rummaged in his hiking pack again and pulled out a pair of sturdy looking hiking boots. He pulled them on over his feet and cinched up the laces extra tight. Milo generally didn't wear anything with shoelaces, as he had long since found that untied shoelaces to be a source of Murphy's Law related complications in his life. His hiking boots were one of the few exceptions that he made to this rule, as he had never been able to find laceless hiking boots. He triple knotted his laces and crawled out of his tent.

When he got outside, he found Melissa and Amanda yawning and waiting in the early morning gloom. The still morning air echoed slightly with birdsong and the hum of insects. The warbling cry of a loon echoed from somewhere across the lake. The sky behind the trees was painted with the pre-dawn glow of the rising sun. Milo turned at the sound of the door to the cinderblock outhouse opening and the banging shut as Zack walked casually across the campsite, his hiking boots crunching in the dirt. He walked up to where Milo, Melissa and Amanda stood waiting and stifled a yawn. "Morning," he said sleepily. The other three said "Morning, Zack," in return.

After a quick breakfast, Milo hefted his backpack onto his shoulders and Zack, Melissa and Amanda picked up their hiking packs and the four of them set off down the trail toward Mount Danville. Today was the last full day of their camping trip and they were going to attempt to hike to the summit of Mount Danville. Mount Danville, from which the city got its name, was a 3,000 foot spur of granite which over looked downtown Danville and marked the border between Coyote Woods and the much larger Danville Forest. As the sun began to come up, the early morning light cast the woods into a dappled mix of light and shade. Milo felt completely at peace. Aside from his broken wrist, and the incident with the canoe, he had actually managed to go a whole week without having to deal with Murphy's Law. He could count on one hand the number of times in his life that that had happened to him. The last several days of camping, hiking, fishing and swimming with the three people that he valued most had been as close to a complete escape from the pressures that Murphy's Law often placed on Milo, as the hapless teenager could ever hope to get.

By the time the four teenagers emerged from the woods, the sun was well above the horizon. The gravel hiking trail wound its way across a broad plain toward a tall granite spur in the distance. As they got closer to Mount Danville, the angle of the trail became steeper and soon even Milo, who was relative fit for his age and build, found himself huffing slightly under the weight of his backpack. By about the half way point, Milo could feel his leg muscles starting to cramp and he called a stop.

"It's OK if you don't make it to the top," said Melissa.

"Yeah, we can always come back next year," suggested Amanda.

Milo shook his head. He was suddenly feeling bullheaded. "No," he said emphatically. "We've come this far, we're going to finish." Milo kept walking, ignoring the cramps in his calf muscles. For a second Amanda looked as if she wanted to say something else, but Zack and Melissa caught her eye. Both of them shook their heads. Milo's blood was up. It was best to let him work it off in his own way.

Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda reached the summit on Mount Danville just before noon. The summit was dominated by a large circular observation platform that offered commanding views of the surrounding area. The skyscrapers of downtown Danville glinted in the afternoon sun.

Milo stood at the edge, enjoying the view of Danville Forest, which stretched away into the distance like a thick green carpet. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Zack walking over to join him.

"You OK, Milo?" asked Zack.

Milo nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine, Zack, I guess I just got a little ahead of myself."

"Amanda's right, you know," replied Zack. "You don't need to push yourself."

Milo nodded again. "OK, Zack," he said. "I'll slow down next time, I promise."

They began to work their way back down the trail an hour later. They went more slowly this time, hiking about half way down and diverting off of the main trail to the end of a long granite outcrop that jutted out into Danville Forest. They stayed there for around half an hour enjoying the distant view of Mount Danville, before resuming their hike back down the mountain. They reached their campsite mid afternoon and after a late afternoon swim, ate dinner and turned in for the night.

Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda were all up early the next morning. After a quick breakfast, they set about breaking down the camp. It took them less time to pack their gear than it did to set up camp a week ago. Milo folded and packed his soiled clothing in the bottom of his hiking pack and systematically packed his tackle box, fishing rod, left over food, camp stove and garbage in his hiking pack. Together he and Zack took down their tent and stowed it in Zack's hiking pack. Milo repacked the tent pegs in his backpack, which he buckled to the top of his hiking pack. He picked up his two backpacks and with only a little difficulty levered the on to his back. He had to bend forward slightly in order to ensure that the whole load was properly balanced over his centre of gravity. Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda each took a last look around to make sure that they hadn't forgotten anything. When that was done, Milo settled his load more squarely on to his shoulders and the four teenagers began walking back to the parking lot.

Sara was waiting in the gravel parking lot with the battered old Range Rover when Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda arrived at the trail head toward mid morning.

"Hey little bro," she said cheerfully as the four teenagers walked up to the car.

"Oh, hi Sara," said Milo, giving his sister a hug through the open driver's side window.

"So, is there a good war story to go with that?" she asked, pointing at his bandaged right forearm.

Milo regarded his bandaged forearm for a second or two, as though he had only just noticed it was there. He had wrapped his wrist after Zack had broken it and largely forgotten about it. "Not really," he said, shrugging, "broken wrist courtesy of Murphy's Law and a rubber mallet."

The four teenagers stumped around to the trunk, where they unceremoniously dumped their hiking packs. Milo unbuckled his backpack from his hiking pack and dumped it on the floor in front of the passenger's seat next to Sara. He climbed into the front seat and shut the door while Zack, Melissa and Amanda piled into the middle row. The door shut with a bang and Sara turned the key in the ignition. The engine rumbled to life and she backed out of the parking lot.

The drive from Coyote Woods back to Danville took around half an hour. Sara chattered away continuously with her brother and his friends during the entire drive. As he listened to Sara trading jokes with Zack, Melissa and Amanda and laughing at the various mishaps and misadventures the four of them had experience over the past week, Milo felt a deep sense of contentment. He was with the four people who mattered to him most. She dropped off Zack first and then Melissa before driving downtown to drop Amanda off at her parents' apartment building.

Sara pulled over in front of a sleek postmodern apartment block. Amanda got out and on impulse Milo got out as well and walked with her to the back of the vehicle. He opened the trunk, reached in and handed Amanda her hiking pack. He studiously ignored Sara, who he knew was watching her brother in the rear view mirror.

"Thanks, Milo," said Amanda.

"I'm glad you came," he said.

"Yeah," said Amanda. She gave Milo a hug. "It was fun." Amanda shouldered her pack and walked into her building.

Milo climbed back into the front seat next to Sara and shut the door.

Sara looked at her brother. Milo was trying to pretend that nothing had happened. "You could do a lot worse than Amanda Lopez," she said.


	2. Chapter 2

Episode Fifteen

Milo was still rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he walked from his house to the bus stop at the end of his street. The air tasted crisp and Milo's breath frosted slightly in the still morning air as he walked. When he reached the bus stop he found Zack, Melissa and Amanda, along with the usual crowd, Bradley, Chad and Mort, waiting for the school bus to arrive.

Milo gave a Chad and Mort a friendly wave. "Hi guys," he said genially. "Have a good summer?"

"Hi Milo," said Chad. "I heard a rumour that you were replaced by an alien doppelgänger this summer."

Milo chuckled. "Sorry, Chad," he said, "but my summer wasn't quite that interesting."

From somewhere behind him, Milo heard Melissa say,"Oh for the love of-Chad, what have I told you about believing random conspiracy blogs on the internet?"

Chad looked as though he were asked to remember a very difficult math equation. "To, not?" he asked at last.

"Right," said Melissa, a slight edge of sarcasm creeping into her voice. Chad was harmless enough, but he had a tendency to accept more or less anything related to the supernatural as being completely true, especially where Milo was concerned. That wasn't to say that Chad wasn't close to the truth sometimes, but his outlandish theorizing was wrong a lot more often than it was right.

"So what about you," asked Milo turning to Mort. "How was your summer?" Milo had always liked Mort and the two boys tended get along well. He thought that Mort had grown a couple of inches over the summer, or maybe that was himself, Milo reflected.

"Oh, I didn't get up to much," said Mort with a casual shrug of his broad shoulders. "I had a blockage in my fifth chakra. Took a fair bit of meditation to work it out. I also saw you on the astral plane," continued Mort. "I didn't know you meditate."

Milo was slightly confused. "Well, actually I don't," he began, but before he could continue, his train of thought was interrupted by the smell of burning rubber and the squeal of breaks. Everyone turned at the sudden sound to see a large highway truck swing heavily on to the road. It took the corner too fast and tipped up onto its outside wheels. Its load of hot asphalt began to shift and the long cylindrical tank that the truck was towing behind it over balanced and rolled over. At the same moment, the truck jackknifed and the tank of asphalt rolled down the street toward the gaggle of kids waiting for the school bus. It rolled to a stop about fifty feet away from where Milo and the other kids were standing. Hot asphalt leaked onto the road and Milo's nose wrinkled at the acrid smell.

"Looks like we're walking to school," he said with a shrug.

Jefferson County Middle School was a large building constructed of tan coloured brick and located on the edge of Milo's neighbourhood. Milo and his friends arrived at the crosswalk approximately fifteen minutes after leaving the bus stop at the end of Milo's street. They were met by the usual sight of a tall, thin figure with a long mane of slightly unkept auburn hair, a bright orange safety vest and a hand held stop sign.

"Morning, Elliot," said Milo, with a friendly wave.

Elliot Decker cast a suspicious glance in Milo's direction from behind his sunglasses. Elliot was the volunteer crossing guard for Milo's school. A chance meeting with Milo's father, Martin, and his sister, Sara, at the circus, around the time that Elliot was six had left him with a lifelong pathological obsession with safety. Elliot threw out a hand to stop Milo from crossing the street. "Stay back," he said. "I've already counted eighteen safety violations this morning."

Somebody snorted and Milo could tell without looking that it was Bradley. "Are we going through this on the first day of school?" he sighed.

"Yeah, c'mon, Elliot," enjoined Zack. He looked at his watch. "It's almost first bell."

Elliot surveyed the growing crowd of kids gathering at his crosswalk. "Alright, fine," he said at last, "but don't say I didn't warn you. This is a very unsafe crosswalk." He walked out into the middle of street, stop sign held aloft and beckoned for the gaggle of kids to follow him. They trooped across the street to the school parking lot and proceeded up the steps into the school.

"See, Elliot," said Melissa, as the four teenagers stepped up onto the curb on the opposite side of the road, "nothing happened. Everything is perfectly safe."

Elliot looked as though he was about to say something, but no sooner had Melissa spoken than the ground gave way and Elliot sank up to his waist.

"Melissa, I think maybe you spoke too soon," said Milo.

When the foursome got inside, the corridors were packed with students and teachers. Milo pulled his schedule from his pocket and consulted it. "According to this, we have Mrs. Camillichec for home room this year," he said.

"That's not too bad," said Zack. "She tends to let you get away with stuff."

"Her classroom is up on the third floor, all the way at the other end of the building," put in Melissa. "And we need to find our lockers. We should get going,"

The four teenagers ducked out of the throng of kids, parents and teachers clogging the main corridor on the first floor and made their way up stairs, where they quickly found their lockers. Zack's was half way down the hall from Mrs. Camillichec's class room. Milo's was next to the entrance to the boy's bathroom and Melissa's and Amanda's were all the way at the other end over looking the football field. Milo's lock broke as soon as he tried to enter the combination. His locker door swung open and he deposited his lunch on the shelf inside. Milo rummaged in his backpack and produced the spare change of clothes that he routinely hung in his locker. Next he pulled out his wallet, took out a five dollar bill and put it in the pocket of the pair of shorts that he had just hung up in his locker. He shut the door, shoved the shank of the broken lock back through the hole and walked back down the hall toward Mrs. Camillichec's classroom. A sign on the door said, "Welcome to the 8th grade." He pushed open the door and went inside.

Bright September sunshine streamed into the classroom through the large windows which over looked the courtyard and the school parking lot. The bulletin boards on the walls were covered with pictures of famous mathematicians, the multiplication tables, the steps of long division, algebraic formulas, geometrical shapes and various bits of mathematical trivia. Milo sat in his usual seat, next to Zack in the second row. Amanda and Melissa were already at their desks in the row immediately behind to the two boys.

No sooner had Milo taken his seat, than the door opened and Mrs. Camillichec entered the classroom. Mrs. Camillichec was a tall, thin woman with a long mane of black hair, high cheeks and a long pointed nose. After standing for the national anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance, and taking attendance, Mrs. Camillichec gave her class a short pep talk. Milo had never really understood the point of pep talks. They had never made him feel particularly peppy. She surveyed her class. "Good morning," she said.

"Good morning, Mrs. Camillichec," replied the class.

"Good morning," she said again. "I look forward to spending the year with you. This year is an important one in your lives. You'll be finishing be finishing your elementary school education and moving on to high school. Its important that you work extra hard this year to prepare for next year. As your teacher, I hope you will tell me if you have any problems or concerns."

The bell rang and the classroom echoed with the scraping of chairs of the linoleum floor, the stamp of feet and babble of voices. Milo shouldered his backpack and maneuvered his way through the crush of bodies to the door. Zack, Melissa and Amanda were waiting in the hall. Their first class of the day was English with Mrs. White. Before passing out their copies of The Hobbit, she gave them a pep talk. So did Mr. Draco at the start of their American History class. Mr. Draco spoke with a slightly clipped east European accent. He was tall and thin, with a widow's peak and slightly pallid complexion. More than a few of the kids in Milo's class were of the opinion that Mr. Draco was a vampire.

"Good morning children," he said. "I hope you all had a delightful summer. I have a wonderful surprise for you. This year you will be divided into pairs and you will be asked to research the history of Danville and present your report at the end of the school year." He proceed to pair them off. As luck would have it, or maybe Murphy's Law working in his favour for once, Milo was paired with Amanda, while Zack was paired off with Melissa, much to the apparent annoyance of Bradley. Bradley had always had a bit off a soft spot for Melissa, but Melissa had never really found him all that interesting.

Following Mr. Draco's American History class, they had a fifteen minute break, after which they trooped back upstairs to Mrs. Camillichec's classroom for their first math lesson. She wasted no time no time in setting them to work on a page of algebra problems, the remainder of which was to be handed in at the start of class on Wednesday. In science class, Mrs. Murawski, spent most of their lesson rhapsodizing about her desk. As a result they got nothing done, which was fine with Milo. He felt as though he was already sagging under the weight of his homework and he had tape up his left ankle after he had badly twisted it going down stairs to the cafeteria for lunch. He also had to swing by his locker between classes for his spare change of clothes after a drinking fountain exploded and left him drenched. By the time he returned to Mrs. Camillichec's classroom at the end of the day, Milo was left feeling slightly wrung out.

The next day Milo and Amanda met in the library over lunch time to start working on their history project. Jefferson County Middle School had a large and well appointed library. Tall oak bookcases bordered a large central space with tables in neat rows. The library was lit by large windows, which looked out on the gymnasium and the football stadium. Large chandeliers hung from the ceiling. The floor of the expansive space was covered in two tone blue tiles. Students were milling around looking for books and sitting down finishing their homework.

Milo walked causally up and the rows of the history section, pulling books on local history of off the shelves at random before returning to the large open space in the middle of the library to find Amanda. He found her walking out of the biography section with an armload of books. Unlike his pile, which had been gathered somewhat haphazardly, Amanda had returned from the stacks with a pile of books organized by subject and time period. Amanda took Milo's pile of books and compared to her own. She scanned through the titles. The History of Danville. Danville of Yesteryear. Famous Danvillians. The Fishmonger Riots. The Haymaker Fire: Danville Before and After. Danville's Lost Neighbourhoods.

Amanda nodded approvingly. "This is a good start, Milo," she said.

"Uhhhh, thanks," said Milo. "So did you have any thoughts about how we should approach our history project?" asked Milo.

Amanda surveyed the large pile of books in front of them. Milo glanced at a few of the titles. Abigail Chase: Clockmaker of Danville. Danville through its Architecture. A History of Danville City Council. "I was thinking that we could design an illustrated time of the history of Danville."

"That sounds like a good idea," said Milo enthusiastically. He checked his watch. Their lunch break was almost over. He gathered up the books he had taken off of the shelf. "We should check these out. That way we can work on this at home." Milo walked over to the check out desk and dumped his load of books on to the table. The librarian quickly sorted through them and stamped them out with a methodical thud-thud-thud! Milo picked them up and put them in his backpack. The bell rang and Milo and Amanda left the library and headed for their computer science class.


	3. Chapter 3

Episode Sixteen

Milo was waiting in his driveway just before sunrise on Saturday morning as a battered looking van pulled up in front of his house. It rolled to a stop, engine rumbling in the pre-dawn quiet. The side door opened to reveal Zack, Melissa and Amanda sitting on a bench along one side of the van. "Morning guys," said Milo with a half suppressed yawn, as he climbed into the van. He shrugged off his backpack and sat down between Zack and Amanda. He tucked his backpack behind his knees.

"Hi Milo," said Dakota, with what seemed like an unnatural amount of energy for so early in the morning.

"Morning, Dakota," said Milo.

Dakota held out a bag of fast food from Slushy Dawg. "Breakfast burrito?"

"Thanks," said Milo, taking the bag from Dakota. He reached across and pulled the side door shut with one hand, then sat back down and turned his attention to the bag of food from Slushy Dawg. Cavendish revved the engine and the van backed out of the driveway. As Milo worked his way through his breakfast, which consisted of two breakfast burritos, orange juice and a hash brown, the van rumbled through the sleepy streets of suburban Danville. The drive from Milo's house to Phineas' took around twenty minutes. By the time Cavendish pulled into the driveway, the sun was starting to creep above the tops of the houses, casting a dappled mix light and shadow on the ground. As the van pulled into the driveway of the Flynn-Fletcher house, the dome of a large astronomical observatory rose above the top of the house from the backyard. The lens of a large telescope glinted in the morning sunlight. The van's side door rattled open and Phineas and Ferb clambered into the van.

"Hi Milo," said Phineas.

"Morning Phineas, Ferb," replied Milo.

"So what's with the telescope," asked Zack.

The young genius shrugged. "Oh that," he said. "That's just our astrophysics homework. We're conducting a study of the distribution of dark matter in the galaxy."

"Oh," said Dakota, "well it's nice to see kids taking an interest in astronomy." He didn't bother to ask the genius stepbrothers if they were old enough to be astrophysicists. He already knew the answer.

"So, where are we going?" asked Amanda as Cavendish turned onto the highway.

"Kind of out town," replied Dakota.

"Really?" asked Melissa, "I though you guys only ever worked around town."

Dakota nodded,"yeah, most of the time we do, but for some reason Mr. Block is sending us way out to the back side of Danville Forest." He shrugged. "What can I say, the Bureau is weird sometimes."

Cavendish nodded in agreement. "Yes, the actions of the Bureau don't always make sense."

"And exactly what do you do?" asked Phineas.

"We pick up garbage," said Dakota. "Like I said, we don't get the cool missions-"

"Wait, wait, wait," Phineas interrupted, "you pick up garbage? I thought you said were time travellers." The tone of Phineas' voice gave Dakota the impression that the young genius didn't suffer fools gladly. Dakota smiled to himself. Milo really had a knack for picking his friends.

"Emphasis on 'were,' Flynn," replied Dakota. "We were stripped of our time agent credentials for stopping the Pistachions. You're welcome, by the way."

The drive from Danville took almost an hour. By the time the battered van arrived on the far side of Danville Forest, the sun was well above the horizon. Cavendish parked the van and the eight of them piled out in into the mid-morning sunshine. They walked around to the back of the van, where Cavendish threw open the doors and handed out white jumpsuits, trash picks, gloves and plastic garbage bags. "Most of the stuff we pick up is pretty innocuous," said Dakota, "but sometime time we find stuff that's different. If you find anything unusual let us know and Cavendish and I will deal with it."

"How will we know if we find anything unusual," asked Milo.

"You'll know it when you see it," said Dakota.

Cavendish and Dakota turned and led the four teenagers and Phineas and Ferb into the woods. The walk from where Cavendish had parked the van to the clean-up site only took fifteen minutes and they eventually emerged on to a clearing bordered by pine trees and strewn with garbage. They immediately set to work picking up the trash that was scattered all over the ground.

At first glance, it appeared to Milo to be ordinary terrestrial garbage, however, upon closer inspection, the writing on the various paper food wrappers and disposable plastic cups, if that's what they were, were written in languages that Milo had never seen before. There were smears of blue and purple stuff that Mill assumed was some kind of alien condiment. Milo quickly speared all the waste in his immediate vicinity and deposited it into his plastic garbage bag. The clean-up site was large, but there were eight of them and it only took them an hour to clean up most of the garbage. Milo had almost filled his third garbage bag when he noticed Phineas, who was standing about six feet away from him, suddenly stoop and pick something up off the ground. From where Milo was standing it appeared to be cube shaped, roughly the size of a baseball and made of some kind of dark metal with a matte finish.

"Phineas," Milo started slightly and the sound of the voice behind him, before realizing that it belonged to Melissa. "Be careful with that around Milo." Phineas was slowly turning the strange object over in his hands. As it moved, it caught the light and Milo noticed the surface was incised with a hexagonal pattern. There was also a thumb sized depression on each face.

"Phineas," said Melissa again, this time more loudly, "I think you should show that to Cavendish."

"Melissa, I don't think he's listening," said Milo. Phineas had a distant look on his face, as if the young savant could inside the cube and was trying puzzle out exactly what it did. He placed his thumb in the depression on the top of the cube. As soon as he did so, the little device emitted a bright flash of green light. At the same instant, Milo felt as if every particle of his being was being pressed toward his centre. It was as though Milo were being squeezed by a giant pair of hands. Then he felt as though he was falling and Milo instinctively curled into a ball. He hit the ground with a jarring thud and felt his left shoulder pop. The force of the impact had dislocated his shoulder. He bounced a couple of times and came to stop. He was lying spreading eagled on his back, with his backpack wedged beneath him. Ignoring his dislocated shoulder, Milo sat up. He looked around and saw Melissa slowly picking herself up. She looked at him.

"Left shoulder again?" she asked.

"Yeah."

She nodded and walked over to him. Melissa took hold of Milo's left arm and holding it out straight, she gave a hard push, Milo felt a momentary flash of pain as the joint was inserted back into its socket. He started to perform some preliminary stretches, but his shoulder protested loudly and he had to stop. Phineas had picked himself up while Melissa had been resetting Milo's shoulder and was looking around. Milo began to do the same. He quickly realized that everything appeared to have drastically changed. The small twigs on the ground suddenly looked like tree trunks and the tiny particles of dirt that had previously been nearly microscopic now buried Milo's feet up to his ankles in clouds of earth the size of baseballs. From somewhere behind him, something was casting a long square shadow. As Milo turned to see what it was, Phineas said, "oh, so that's what that does."

The baseball-sized cube that Phineas had been turning over in his hands now appeared to be the size of a large office block.

Milo was suddenly aware that Melissa was looking at him out of the corner of his eye. The look on her face plainly said, "we need to talk about Phineas."

Milo gave her a return look that said, "later, after we get out of this."

"I think we've been shrunk ," said Phineas.

"Ok," said Melissa slowly, "how do we get unshrunk?"

Phineas though for a minute, then pulled out his phone. It appeared to be a make that Milo and Melissa didn't recognize. "I'm going to see if I can call Ferb," said the young genius.

Milo and Melissa traded a skeptical look. "Will that work," asked Milo.

"To be honest, I'm not sure," replied Phineas. "We never thought about this scenario when we built our phones."

Milo and Melissa looked at each other, astonished. "You built your phone?" asked Melissa.

Phineas shrugged as if this was a perfectly normal thing for a nine year old to do. "Sure," he said casually, tapping and swiping through his contact list looking for his stepbrother's phone number. "We built the prototype for Candace last summer. We liked the design so much that we built two more." Phineas stopped tapping and swiping and stared at his screen. "Hmmmmm," he said thoughtfully. "I thought that might be the case." He reached into his pocket, pulled out a small set of screwdrivers and proceeded to remove the back of his phone. He deftly made some adjustments and replaced the back plate with a metallic snap. Phineas examined the screen again. He nodded in approval, tapped Ferb's number and then the call button. He placed the phone to his ear and spoke for a couple of minutes, then hung up.

No sooner had Phineas hung up, than the three of them began to hear noise in the distance. Milo could see figures coming closer and he realized that he was staring at Cavendish, Dakota, Zack, Amanda and Ferb, except that they were all absolutely enormous. Phineas had pulled a calculator out of his pocket and his hands were deftly dancing over the key pad. "Based on the disparity between our height and theirs," he said, "I'd say we're a couple of millimetres tall."

"How does that help us?" asked Melissa.

"Well, It lets us know where we stand," offered Milo.

"Milo, not helping," said Melissa.

Milo was still watching the towering figures of his friends as they came closer. He could feel the vibrations of their footsteps rattling his teeth. He felt something familiar click in his brain and he began to analyze direction, gait, stride length, weight, mass density and impact force. Milo did it without thinking. Thirteen years of living with Murphy's Law had turned the analytical part of his mind in a finely tuned precision instrument. He turned to Melissa and Phineas. "We need to move," he said pointing, "over this way."

The three of them began to move. It was difficult. The vibrations from the footsteps of five people caused the soil around Milo's feet to liquify. It was like walking in thick mud and in a rare lack of foresight Milo had not packed his hiking boots in his backpack. He wondered if he should make a point of packing his boots from now on. The jolt of Amanda's right foot coming down not far from Milo interrupted his thoughts. He pushed the thought aside and kept moving, eventually reaching the spot he had indicated to Melissa and Phineas. He stopped and turned to face the towering figures of his friends. They had stopped short, not wanting to accidentally step on anyone. Dakota threw out a huge arm to keep Zack, Amanda and Ferb out of the way. He turned to Cavendish and Milo saw his mouth move, but couldn't hear the words. Cavendish turned walked and a little way a way from the others. He bent down and picked up the cube that Phineas had found.

Milo watched as he examined it carefully. At the same time, Dakota tapped the side of his sunglasses and bent very low. He could see himself reflected in the lenses of Dakota's sunglasses. Text and icons scrolled down around Milo's reflection. Dakota pointed at Milo, Melissa and Phineas, then turned and said something to Cavendish, who nodded. Dakota made a sign that clearly said, "don't move."

Milo turned to Melissa and Phineas. "Don't move," he said. "I think Cavendish and Dakota have an idea." There was another bright flash of green light, but instead of Milo, Melissa and Phineas returning to their normal size, they watched as Dakota shrank down to their level.

"Yeah, OK, that didn't go the way I thought it would," said Dakota after he dusted himself off.

From high above them, Cavendish sighed and shook his head.


	4. Chapter 4

Episode Seventeen

It took another couple of hours of careful study of the cube, which Dakota explained to them later, was called a shrinkatron, before it was possible to restore Milo, Melissa, Phineas an Dakota to their original sizes. Milo felt himself once again seized by a giant pair of hands, only this time he felt as though every bit of him was being stretched. The muscles in his dislocated shoulder howled in protest and when it was over, Milo tasted blood in his mouth. He had bit through his bottom lip.

"This is extremely dangerous technology in the wrong hands," said Cavendish, as they drove back to Danville that afternoon. "With enough energy, this device is capable of shrinking the entire planet down to the size an atom."

"Yeah," said Dakota, "whoever let this thing get out must be a real nutjobber. We definitely need to phone this in."

As September faded into October, and Milo and his friends settled into their classes, Danville was cloaked in a mantle of orange and yellow and crimson, as the leaves on the trees gradually turned from summer time green to a riot of Autumn colours. Two weeks after the Shrinkatron Incident as they had taken to calling it, Melissa raised the subject of Phineas.

"Milo," she said as he wrapped his knee one afternoon between classes.

"Yeah, Melissa."

"We need to talk." She had intentionally let Zack and Amanda go ahead of them because she felt as though what she wanted to say was something should remain between her and Milo.

"What did you want to talk about?" he asked. Milo finished wrapping his right knee. He had slipped going upstairs between classes and had banged his knee rather badly. He guessed that he would have to put ice on it later.

She took a breath. "Milo, I think you should be careful around Phineas," she said quickly.

"You don't think it's safe for me to be around him?" asked Milo.

Melissa paused, wondering how to say what she wanted to say. She knew that Milo liked Phineas and she didn't want to seem like she was trying to come between them either, but as his closest friend she felt as though she owed him her honest point of view. "I think that Phineas and Ferb live in a bubble," she said at last. "I don't think they always realize the consequences of their actions."

Milo thought about this for a second or two, then said, "maybe this is just part of the Phineas and Ferb effect. Maybe being born with a positive probability field means they have a higher tolerance for taking risks."

"Possibly," Melissa allowed slowly, "but after Duckburg, and now the Shrinkatron Incident, I can't help but wonder if Phineas and Murphy's Law are a bad mix."

The six of them spent the next two weekends shadowing Cavendish and Dakota, as they worked various clean up sites around Danville. For the life of him, Milo wondered why aliens who could apparently master interstellar space flight couldn't master something as basic as recycling.

"That's a really good question," said Dakota one Saturday when Milo asked him. "Maybe one day you'll be able to ask them." He passed Milo a lawn gnome. "Take this and put it a container. And try not to touch it any more than you have to."

"Why?" asked Milo.

Dakota told him.

Milo looked revolted. "But that's just-I mean why would anyone do that?"

Dakota chuckled at the look on Milo's face and shrugged. "Maybe it's somebody's idea of a funny prank. Perhaps you can ask them that too, although personally, I don't really want to know."

Heinz stood pensively in front of the white board in his shed in Milo's backyard one afternoon in the middle of October. Over the past several months, Doof's calculations had slowly become more refined, thanks in part to Perry and Cavenpuss' input, but he had found himself beset by frequent setbacks and obstacles nonetheless. He was facing such an obstacle now. Heinz's white board dominated one wall of the shed which had previously belonged the Milo's mother, Brigitte, who was an architect and had used it as a design studio. The large workbench on the perpendicular wall, was located under a large rectangular window, and contained an elaborate array of mirrors, magnetic coils and lasers. The purpose of the experiment was to develop a base line for the time it took for a beam of light to travel through a temporal continuum from one point to another.

Cavenpuss and Perry stood on a chair next to the lanky scientist, staring the calculations on the white board. Perry chittered at Heinz. "Your calculations are off," said Cavenpuss. "There is a variance of three microns."

"What," said Heinz, "no there isn't. There is a variance of less than one micron. Look." He rattled off a series of mathematical equations and formulas, pointing to each one as he spoke.

Perry shook his head, chittered emphatically at Heinz and pointed at the calculations on the white board.

"Alright fine, Perry the Platypus," said Heinz in exasperation, "go ahead and show me."

Perry picked up a pad of paper and a pen and scribbled out a series of mathematical formulas. He chittered his teeth at Heinz and handed him the pad of paper. Heinz took it and studied for what seemed like a long time. He made some notations and walked over to the apparatus on his workbench. He made some adjustments to the positioning of the mirrors. He booted up a laptop, opened a new window and input a series of commands. Heinz shifted his attention from his computer to the test apparatus on his work bench and made a few more adjustments. Heinz flipped a switch and a pair of blue and green lasers went ricocheting around the maze of prisms and mirrors and through the magnetic coils. A pair of jagged lines appeared in a window on Heinz' computer screen. He studied the readout carefully and then sighed.

"There is still a two micron variance," observed Cavenpuss.

Perry chittered.

"A two micro variance is still within the margin of error for-"

"Technically," said Cavenpuss, "but only barely. You would be able to enter the time stream, but you risk substantial damage to yourself and your vehicle."

Heinz was silent for a long time.

A week later the weather turned chilly. Danville was drenched in a cold rain that washed away last of the fall colours and turned everything drab and grey. Zack trudged across the parking lot from the bus stop to the Googleplex Mall. He reached the entrance to the mall, pushed open the door and stepped out of the bad weather. He unzipped his coat, took off his hat and stuffed it in his pocket. He walked over to the mall directory and ran his finger down the index of stores until he found the one that he wanted. He double checked its location. It was up on the fifth floor. He made a mental note of the location and walked over to the nearest escalator. He was half way to his destination when he heard a voice behind say his name.

"Hey, Zack."

Zack stopped and turned to find Melissa coming out of Safety Barn with a large bag under her arm. "Oh, hi Melissa." For some reason that he couldn't explain, Zack suddenly felt his face grow hot. "What's with the bag?"

Melissa shrugged. "Birthday shopping for Milo," she said. "Mr. Murphy said that Milo needed a new hard hat, so I thought I'd pick one up for him. You?"

"Same," said Zack. "I was going to check out the Trashcandroid's Dungeon."

Melissa nodded approvingly. "The official Doctor Zone store," she said. "Good call, it'll be intact and you definitely won't run into him there today." The Trashcandroid's Dungeon was Milo's favourite store at the mall and was near the top of their list of places to check when Murphy's Law made it unusually difficult to find him.

"So you arranged some interference, then?" asked Zack.

Melissa nodded. "Sara and Neal took him to Danville Comic Con," she said. "All of the Time Wardens are appearing together on stage with Orton for the first time over twenty years." Melissa laughed. "I don't think I've ever seen Milo so excited before."

"Why don't you come with me," suggested Zack. "You've been friends with Milo for a lot longer that I have. You might know what he'd like."

"Sure."

They walked the rest of the way to the Trashcandroid's Dungeon together chatting amiably, mostly about Milo and about, "the ridiculousness that is his life," as Melissa liked to put it. As the person closest to Milo outside of his family, Zack had often noticed that Melissa could get away with saying things to Milo that anyone else would have been immediately called on. He remembered the first time he had met Milo, while waiting for the school bus at the bus stop at the end of Milo's street. They had almost been run over by a section of concrete drainage pipe and had eventually ended up in the sewer. Zack had stared in amazement as this strange kid had calmly rummaged in his backpack and handed him a head lamp.

"Here," Milo had said, "we can use these to navigate in the dark."

"Dude, if and when we get out of here," Zack had said, "I'm going to have to go my own way. No offence, but I'm not sure I can handle all of this."

Milo had turned to stare at Zack, as if confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean this cyclone of calamity that follows you everywhere you go," Zack had replied. "How do you live like this?!"

When Milo spoke next, It was clear that he felt as though he had just been insulted. "How do you live like that?" Milo had asked.

Now it had been Zack's turn to look confused. "What do you mean?"

Milo had given Zack a searching look, as sizing him up. "I mean do you want to live like those other kids? They took a bus to school today. A bus! Does that honestly seem like more fun to you?"

In spite of this initially rocky start, Zack's relationship with Milo had quickly hardened into a durable friendship. Zack's thoughts were interrupted by the ethereal music drifting from the Doctor Zone store, just ahead of them. "It's time for danger! Time for action! Time for Doctor Zone!" Zack and Melissa stopped in front of the entrance to the Trashcandroid's Dungeon, which was flanked by life-sized statues of Doctor Hankry Zone and Time Ape.

Zack and Melissa went inside. The store was decorated in lurid shades of purple and gold. The Doctor Zone them played over the store's speaker system. "Chronological time is an abstraction when you're with Doctor Zone." Props were on display behind glass display cases. T-shirts, sweaters and sweat pants hung on racks. A life sized replica of the Time Beehicle, for sale for $50,000, dominated the open space in the middle of the store. They spent around half an hour wandering around the store looking at all the coffee mugs, action figures, comic books, Christmas ornaments and various knick knacks for sale. They eventually picked out several T-shirts, four Doctor Zone Universe graphic novels that Melissa said that Milo wanted to read and an expensive pair of sixth scale figures of Doctor Zone and Time Ape.

"So," asked Zack, as they walked out of the Trashcandroid's Dungeon, "do you want to hit the food court?"


	5. Chapter 5

Zack and Melissa walked out of the Trashcandroid's Dungeon, Zack's wallet feeling a solid $300.00 lighter. They walked over to the nearest escalator and made their way up to the sixth floor. The food court was at the opposite end of the mall from the Trashcandroid's Dungeon. They walked from one end of the mall to the other, stopping occasionally to browse, although neither of them bought anything else. The food court was packed was shoppers trying to avoid going out in the bad weather. They picked their way through the crowd to the Slushy Dawg counter. They ordered, got their trays, paid and began looking for a free table.

They were still looking for a table five minutes later when Zack saw someone standing up, head and shoulder over the crowd and waving at them. "Hey, I think I see Milo's parents."

"Where?" asked Melissa.

Zack pointed and waved. Balancing their trays and their shopping, Zack and Melissa picked their way through the crowded food court to where Martin and Brigitte Murphy were eating lunch. There were several bags under the table.

"Hi kids," said Martin between mouthfuls of his hamburger. He eyed their bags from Safety Barn and the Trashcandroid's Dungeon. "Shopping for Milo's birthday?"

Zack and Melissa both nodded. Melissa eyed the large bag under Martin's chair. "Looks like I missed you at Safety Barn," said Melissa. "What did you buy?"

"Milo's been hinting at a new pair of steel toed boots," replied Brigitte.

"For weeks," added Martin wryly. "He wasn't exactly subtle."

"What about you Zack," asked Brigitte, "what did you pick up for Milo's birthday."

"Well, I had some help from Melissa," answered Zack. "We went to the Trashcandroid's Dungeon and picked up some swag and comic books and stuff."

Martin smiled at Zack and Melissa. "Kind of hard to go wrong with swag from Milo's favourite store. Sounds like you two did well."

Awhile later, after lunch and a long discussion about Milo's birthday, Zack walked back across the mall parking lot back to the bus stop. It had stopped raining, but there was still a damp chill in the air and he pulled his hat more closely around his ears to ward against the damp cold of the late afternoon. The sun was slowly sinking behind the tall buildings of downtown Danville, casting long shadows over everything. Car headlights were starting to come on in the falling darkness. The puddles in the road caught the light, casting weird reflections on the sidewalk and the walls of the surrounding buildings.

It had actually been a nice afternoon, Zack reflected as he got on the bus, going to Danville Comic Con with Milo, Sara, and Neal probably would have been fun, but Zack had enjoyed a quiet afternoon with Melissa, without the stress of constantly being on watch for Murphy's Law. As much as he liked and admired Milo, Zack hadn't had too many quiet afternoons since they had become friends and he had appreciated the breather from the unmitigated chaos that followed Milo everywhere he went. Melissa unexpectedly drifted into his thoughts. She had looked nice today he thought. Wait, had she? She had been wearing her usual white jacket, black tank top and pink skirt, which is what she wore practically every day. And yet she had looked nice. Perhaps she had always looked nice and Zack had just never noticed before. He wondered if he should notice things like that more often.

Milo and Amanda met again in the library after school the following Monday. They found Zack and Melissa already hard at work surrounded by a pile of open books.

"Hi guys" said Milo, with his usual friendly wave.

"Hey Milo," said Zack. "How was Danville Comic Com?"

Milo practically went into transports of delight at the question, as he usually did at anything Doctor Zone-related. "Oh, it was super" he said excitedly. "I was supposed to have my picture taken with Orton and all of the Time Wardens, until Hall Three was flooded when the sprinkler system went off and the photo ops had to be cancelled, but I still got to meet them all and I got all of their autographs."

Zack and Melissa both chuckled at Milo's unbounded enthusiasm. "Sounds like you and Sara and Neal had a fun day on Saturday," said Melissa.

"Oh yeah," said Milo, "we had a great day. So what did you guys do on the weekend?"

Zack and Melissa traded conspiratorial looks. Zack gave a causal shrug. "Oh, you know not very much," he said, "mostly just getting caught up on homework."

Milo gave his two best friends a searching look. Sometimes Zack could almost swear that Milo could read minds. "Well….OK," he said at last. He squared his backpack more securely on his shoulders and walked off with Amanda to look for books for their history project.

On the morning of Milo's birthday, the weather was damp and chilly. It had rained the night before and the pavement was slick with moisture. Milo slipped and fell twice walking to the bus stop at the end of his street and had to stop and rummage through his backpack for his elbow brace and to tape his left ankle. The school bus came on time for once and the ride to school was uneventful, which had given him time to peruse the new issue of Doctor Zone Insider that had been waiting for him at his usual place at the kitchen table as his mother had fixed his favourite breakfast, chocolate chip pancakes. He was also sporting a split lip because he had fallen out of bed at 5:30 in the morning trying to reach his phone when it had started ringing. Milo had left it underneath his bunk bed on his desk to charge the night before.

"Hi Milo," Uncle Joey had left him a message in his voice mail. "Happy birthday. Hope you have a great day today."

Grandpa and Grandma Murphy had also left him a birthday message, which of course, was mostly unintelligible. Grandpa and Grandma Murphy had a habit of talking over each other. He had also gotten a succession of texts from Zack, Melissa, Amanda, Chad and Mort.

"Hi buddy, happy birthday."

"Happy birthday, Milo."

"Have a great birthday, Milo."

The day seemed to drag by with almost interminable slowness. At times it seemed to Milo that the clock hands on the classroom wall were barely moving. After morning exercises they had grammar with Mrs. White, who set them to work parsing sentences. After their morning grammar lesson was geography with Mrs. Baxter, who launched into a long and boring lecture about the human biome and its effects on the natural environment. Following the morning break, they had Spanish with Mr. Garcia followed by music with Mrs. Whipple. Milo's knowledge of Spanish was excellent, having taken a number of conversational Spanish classes at Danville Community College and he allowed his attention to drift during Mr. Garcia's vocabulary lesson. He was slightly late for 's music class. Milo had had to run upstairs to his locker between classes to get his accordion and he hobbled into class, ten minutes late, having slipped going downstairs and badly sprained his ankle. The upside, Milo reflected, as he limped out of the cafeteria after lunch for computer science class with Doof, was that he would have to sit out gym class, which today suited him just fine.

Computer class turned out to be an exercise in frustration. Doof had paired Milo and Zack together for the semester long robotics project he had assigned the class in the second week of September. They were supposed to be designing, building and programming a robot to traverse a simulated moonscape. The goal was to reach a series of designated stations and perform a series of increasingly complex tasks within a set time frame. They were supposed to start programming their robot today, that is if they could get it to turn on in the first place.

Milo and Zack examined their robot for the third time. "Why won't it turn on?" asked Zack, in confusion. "Murphy's Law?"

Milo shrugged. "Maybe," he checked the battery indicator again. "It says we have a fully charged battery."

Zack frowned. "Hmmmm , maybe there's a lose connection somewhere?"

Milo picked up their robot and a screwdriver and began tightening all of the electrical connections. It fell apart in his hands almost immediately. Milo looked sheepish. "Sorry, Zack."

Zack waved away Milo's apology. "It's OK," he said, as the bell rang. "Don't worry about it."

Milo sat out gym class on account of his elbow brace and his two wrapped ankles, which was just as well as far as Milo was concerned. Coach Mitchell was teaching them to play football. Milo had always found that Murphy's Law and contact sports didn't really mix. As Coach Mitchell put the other kids through their paces, Milo settled down for a thorough read of his new copy of Doctor Zone Insider. The last class of the day was art. Mr. Sanders was teaching them art history today. Ordinarily Milo would have found this mildly interesting, but by the time the bell rang, he was practically bursting go home. He tore out of the class room as fast as the press of bodies and his wrapped ankles would allow. Milo went upstairs to his locker, grabbed his things and immediately went back downstairs to find Zack, Melissa and Amanda.

Milo found his three friends just outside, waiting for him at the bottom of the steps into the school, next to the school parking lot. The morning's rain had lifted and the late afternoon sky was a clear blue. They decided to walk back to Milo's house from school. The walk from Milo's house to the school ordinarily took about fifteen minutes, but today took closer to twenty five after the ground collapsed beneath them and they had to search for a manhole cover in order to extricate themselves. By the time the four of them got to Milo's house they all smelled and Milo gave them clothes to change into. After they had all changed into Milo's clothes, they all trooped back downstairs into the kitchen. As they entered the kitchen, Sara waylaid her brother with an affectionate hug.

"Happy birthday, little bro," she said.

Martin clapped a friendly hand on his son's shoulder. "Happy birthday, Milo," he said. "We're very, very proud of you today."

Milo gave his father a hug. "Thanks Dad," he said.

As Milo was extricating himself from Martin and Sara, the door bell rang. Milo went to answer the door and found Cavendish and Dakota standing on the door mat.

"Cavendish, Dakota," said Milo, clearly delighted, "Hi, c'mon in."

"Hello, Milo," said Cavendish warmly.

"Milo!" exclaimed Dakota, "Happy birthday!" He handed Milo a small, thin package.

Milo took it and examined it. It appeared to only slightly larger that a cell phone. "Thanks, guys," he said. Milo turned and led the two former time agents into the kitchen, which in Milo's absence had been bedecked with streamers and balloons with the number "14" on them. Milo googled at the site and turned to Amanda. "Did you do all this by yourself?"

Amanda smiled coyly at Milo, "well, I had some help," she said, shooting a look at Martin, Brigitte and Sara, "but you're worth it."

Milo threw his arms around Amanda. "I really don't know what to say."

Sara hid a big grin behind her hand. "Well you could say thank you," she suggested.

"I…uhhhhh…..yeah….thanks," Milo spluttered. Out of the corner of his eye, Milo thought he saw Sara give her father a little nudge and the two of them seemed to trade a meaningful look.

As if to change the subject, Martin said, "I think dinner's almost ready. Why don't we sit down."


	6. Chapter 6

Milo's birthday dinner was a happy and noisy one. When he wasn't debating the finer points of Doctor Zone lore with Sara, or trading inside jokes with Zack, Melissa and Amanda, he was swapping stories, Murphy's Law incidents for time agent adventures, with Cavendish and Dakota. Eventually, once everyone had finished eating, the remains of the meal was cleared away and Brigitte brought out a huge chocolate cake, covered in a thick layer of chocolate fudge icing, Milo's favourite. The words "Happy Birthday Milo" were written around a large number "14" in blue icing. She set the large birthday cake down in front of her clearly salivating son. There were no candles. They had tried candles on Milo's cake for his seventh birthday. It had taken a month for Milo's eyebrows grow back.

Brigitte bent over and gave Milo a kiss on the cheek. "Happy birthday, Milo," she said.

Milo gave his mother a kiss in return. "Thanks, Mom."

After they sang happy birthday, Milo cut the cake and began passing out slices. It was double chocolate chunk on the inside. Milo's mouth watered in anticipation. He picked up his fork and took a big bite. It was rich and moist and melted in his mouth. Milo felt his eyes go wide in delight. He swallowed his mouthful of birthday cake.

"Oh, Mom!" he said. "this is delicious."

Brigitte chuckled. "I'm glad you like," she said. "I wound up making three. I finally had to get your father to take Diogee for an extra long walk." Martin had caused the first batch of cake batter to go sour when he had walked past the kitchen on his way out of the downstairs bathroom and had caused the second to come out of the oven completely charred when he had walked into the kitchen for a can of Pep.

Milo was shovelling birthday cake into his mouth as though he hadn't seen food in a year. Sara was laughing at her brother again, as Milo practically inhaled his slice of cake. When he had finished his slice of birthday cake, Milo drained the last dregs of his glass of milk. He raised his hand to his mouth, stifling a polite burp. "That was really great, Mom," said Milo.

"We all know your weakness for anything chocolate," said Sara, smiling at her brother.

Milo grinned back his sister. "It's practically my glorpium," he replied.

"Well, that sure was the best chocolate cake that I've ever tasted," put in Dakota, "your mom's a hell of a cook."

"Yes, Mrs. Murphy," said Cavendish in agreement, "that was most excellent."

"I'm glad you both enjoyed it," said Brigitte, "I'll cut you some extra slices and you can take them home." Cavendish and Dakota nodded appreciatively.

"Well, we're not done yet," said Sara, getting up and collected the remains of Milo's birthday cake. Martin got up at the same moment and began gathering up the plates and glasses from around the table. Diogee was hovering at Brigitte's feet as she scraped food scraps into the compost bin under the kitchen sink. A few scraps of meat fell from the plate in her hand and on to the floor. Diogee gobbled them up, barked happily, then went back to sit on his accident prone master's foot. Milo gave Diogee an obligatory scratch behind the ears and Diogee's tail thudded happily against the floor.

In the commotion of people moving around the kitchen, Milo suddenly realized that Sara had disappeared and he wondered where she had gone. No sooner had the thought occurred to him, than she appeared, framed in the kitchen door, with an armload of brightly wrapped birthday suddenly remembered the small wrapped package that Cavendish and Dakota had given him earlier and pulled it out of his pocket. He put it on the table as Sara deposited the mountain of gifts in front of him. She sat down.

Milo immediately attacked the pile of gifts in front him, pulling a large box toward him. He recognized Melissa's hand writing on the card. He opened Melissa's birthday card and read it. "To my best friend, have a great birthday, best wishes, Melissa." Milo turned his attention to the large box that the card had come with. He ripped off the brightly coloured wrapping paper, revealing a sky blue hard hat in a cardboard box. "Thanks, Melissa," said Milo. "How did you know I needed a new hard hat?"

Melissa shrugged and gave Martin and Brigitte an appreciative look. "I had some help," she said.

"The big crack in your old one was also kind of a subtle clue," said Martin.

Milo chuckled, "oh, right," he said, "I forgot that I hit my head during the woodpecker incident." Milo continued to tackle the mountain in front of him, pulling another brightly coloured box toward himself. The envelope taped to the box had the words, "Our Son," written on it in what Milo recognized as Brigitte's round hand writing. He pulled off the wrapping paper, revealing a large boot box. "Hey," said Milo excitedly, "great, I needed a new pair of safety boots." He got up and gave his parents a hug.

"We know," said Brigitte, smiling at Milo, "you've been hinting at new boots for at least a month."

"You're not always as subtle you'd like to think, you know," chuckled Martin.

Milo reached next for three gifts taped together with generous amounts of scotch tape. The card read, "Keep being wizardy, happy birthday little bro, your sister, Sara." Inside the card was a $50.00 gift for the Trashcandroid's Dungeon. "Hey, cool, there are a bunch of Doctor Zone comics that I haven't read yet." The three gifts from Sara turned out to be a new full face filter mask and a sixth scale model of the Time Beehicle, "oh, Sara, this must have cost a fortune," gasped Milo, gazing at the large and extremely detailed model. The third gift was, "Doctor Zone On-line," enthused Milo. "Thanks, Sara, these are all really great."

Sara shrugged and laughed at Milo's obvious joy. "Well, you've tried to drop the XGB-720 into casual conversations that really had nothing to do with it, and as for the rest, well, duh!"

Milo laughed and got her point at once, "yeah I guess I do have the words,'Doctor Zone fan' tattooed across my forehead, don't I, I mean did appear in the pilot, after all."

Everyone laughed. They were all well aware of the events of the Pistachion Incident.

Milo pulled a large gift bag from Zack toward himself and began to unpack its contents. "Hey, cool," said Milo after reading the card, "new Doctor Zone T-shirts, thanks, Zack."

"Keep going, Milo," said Zack, "there's more."

Milo looked intrigued and returned to rummaging in the large gift bag. He pulled out several flat objects. They were all individually wrapped and then wrapped in scotch tape, like Sara's gifts had been. He began pulling off the purple and gold wrapping paper, revealing a stack of hardcover graphic novels. "Hey, cool," said Milo again, "I've been meaning to read these. How did you know?"

"I had some help from Melissa," said Zack with a shrug. "And keep going. You're not done yet."

Milo looked amazed. "Seriously?!" He looked the bag, wondering what else Zack had gotten him. He rummaged in the gift bag again and pulled out two long rectangular objects. He picked one up and started to unwrap it. Milo got about half way through unwrapping it when he gasped. "Oh, Zack," said Milo in amazement. A sixth scale Doctor Zone stared back at Milo. He quickly unwrapped the other one, to find a matching a sixth scale Time Ape. Milo gaped. "Zack," he said again, "you didn't have to do this."

"No, we didn't have to-" started Zack.

"But we wanted to," finished Melissa.

"We felt like you've been through a lot this year," said Sara. She ticked off the Murphy's Law events in succession. "First Octalia, then Duckburg, then the Shrinkatron."

Melissa smiled at Milo. "We felt like you had earned something special."

Milo gazed at Sara, as though he had just figured something out. "So all those times you kept sneaking off at the Danville Comic Con, you were co-ordinating with Zack and Melissa."

Melissa nodded again. "Yep."

"Well, that and I had get away from Murphy's Law just to get my phone to work at all," said Sara.

Milo chuckled. "Yeah, I can totally understand that one," he said. Milo broke his phone at least a couple of times a week. There was even a box on the kitchen counter labeled "Milo's phones." It usually held at least five or six broken cell phones. Milo surveyed the table. There were only two gifts left. There was a birthday card from Amanda and the small package that Cavendish and Dakota had given him when they had arrived. He picked up the small, thin package from Cavendish and Dakota, wondering once again, what it could be. He unwrapped it and something that looked a lot like a high end smart phone fell into Milo's hand. He looked at Cavendish and Dakota. "Uhhhhh, thanks guys," he said a little confused, "but, what is it?"

"It's an inter temporal communicator," replied Cavendish.

"Yeah, technically we're not supposed to let you have that," said Dakota, "but this is an obsolete model and we figured that the Bureau won't notice if one goes missing." Dakota shrugged. "We tried to spring loose a quantum localizer as well, but the Bureau keeps those under close watch, even the outdated ones."

Milo stared at the device in his hand, slightly stunned. They had given him actual time agent technology as a birthday gift. He had always had an easy rapport with the two time agents and had always liked them, but evidently Cavendish and Dakota placed a level of trust in him that he had not realized was there. Milo swallowed. "So how does it work?" he asked.

"It's pretty simple," said Dakota, and he quickly talked Milo through setting up his new inter temporal communicator.

"It's range is rather limited," explained Cavendish, "only around ten thousand years or so relative to your current time frame-"

"-And you'll only be able to contact your home dimension so long as you're less than thirty degrees off of the dimensional axis," continued Dakota, "but we figured that given all the weird stuff that Murphy's Law throws at you, this might be useful someday."

"Yeah, thanks," he said. "It might be, but how well will it stand up to-"

" -You?" finished Dakota, chuckling . "To be honest, we have no idea, but the outer casing is made of carbon fibre reinforced with diamond filaments. It should take a hell of beating before it breaks."

"Well, that's good to know," said Melissa.

"Yeah," said Zack, "for the next time we end up in a parallel dimension full of talking ducks or something." Everyone laughed.

Milo picked up the envelope containing Amanda's card. The envelope was oddly thick, as though it contained more than just a birthday card. He pulled out the card, which simply said, "because you're worth it." Then Milo noticed that something was taped to the inside of the card. It was a pair of event tickets. Weird Al Yanchovich: Strings Attached-VIP Experience, Danville Arena, April 18, 2020. As though from somewhere very distant, Milo heard himself say, "oh my god, Amanda, he's my favourite-I mean-I just-" Milo fell into a ringing silence. He had absolutely no idea what say.


	7. Chapter 7

Sara roared with laughter as she took in her brother's utterly dumbfounded expression. "You're welcome, little bro," she said, grinning from ear to ear at him.

Milo came back to himself at once. "This was you," he asked.

Sara laughed again. "Not completely," she said, with a glance at Amanda. "We went in on it together."

"Sara told me what his music means to you," interjected Amanda.

Milo suddenly felt himself flush slightly. "He taught me to be an optimist," he said. "I-uhhhh-thanks,"said Milo, "both of you."

"You're worth it little bro," said Sara. At the same moment, Amanda's phone pinged. That seemed to be the cue for Milo's party to break up. The kitchen was filled with the babble of voices and the scraping of chairs on the tile floor. Milo walked everyone to the front door.

"Good bye, Milo,"said Cavendish warmly

Dakota clapped him affectionately on the shoulder, "See you around, Murphy."

"Bye, guys," said Milo to the two time agents.

"Bye Milo," said Melissa.

"See you at school, buddy,"said Zack.

Milo waved goodbye to Zack and Melissa, then turned to Amanda. He gave her a warm hug, which she returned. "Thanks for the Weird Al tickets," he said. "That was totally unexpected."

"You're welcome," said Amanda, "I'm looking forward to going with you." He let go of her and Amanda walked outside to where her ride was waiting the driveway. Milo stood in the doorway and watched as the car backed out of the driveway and into the road. He shut the front door and walked back to into the kitchen. He shrugged off his backpack and quickly stowed his birthday gifts inside. He slipped his backpack back over his shoulders and bent over to gather up the large pile of wrapping paper that had accumulated around his chair at the kitchen table. He walked it out to the recycling bin in the garage. When he came back into the house, Brigitte was mopping up a puddle of water on the kitchen floor and Martin was crawling soaking wet from under the kitchen sink. The faucet was lying on the counter. It had come off in Martin's hand when he had tried to turn on the water to rinse a dish.

Martin eyed his son. "So," he asked casually, apparently heedless of the fact that he was dripping wet, "how long have you and Amanda been a thing?"

Milo looked momentarily confused, then started to say, "we're not a thing," but he was interrupted by the sound of Sara coming out of the downstairs bathroom.

"Oh they've been a thing since the summer," she said airily.

"No, we haven't-," Milo started to say, then something clicked and he gave his sister a searching look. "You're trying to set me up, aren't?"

"No," insisted Sara, then she said, "well, OK, little bro, maybe a bit." She chuckled. "You made an impression on her somehow, though. Did you know that she submitted your name for the WIBA Award for Greatest Perseverance?"

"Really?" said Milo, in slight surprise, "how did you find that out?"

Sara shrugged. "She told me. She said that your sheer persistence was what she admires most about you."

Milo suddenly felt himself growing hot. He had had no idea that Amanda felt that way about him.

Sara laughed. "Face it, Milo," she said. "You got a girlfriend for your birthday."

Milo turned to his father, looking confused. "So, what should I do, Dad?"

A look of wistful amusement flickered for a moment across Martin's face, as he realized that his son was growing up. He remembered when Milo had been born. The doctors had decided not to wait for Brigitte to give birth naturally, and had performed a C-section because Murphy's Law had kept shorting out the diagnostic equipment in Brigitte's hospital room. After they had brought Milo home from the hospital a few days later, Martin and Brigitte had had a long talk about what raising a boy born with Extreme Hereditary Murphy's Law would mean. Martin thought for a second. "Well, Milo, do you like Amanda?"

Milo nodded."Yeah, I do,"he said at once.

"Well, why don't you ask her out to lunch and see how that goes," suggested Martin. "You could take her to the Diner Downtown."

"Yeah, that's a good idea," said Milo. "Thanks, Dad." Milo hefted his backpack higher onto his shoulders, said good night and walked upstairs to the usual clatter of falling pictures.

As Milo walked up stairs, he felt his right foot sink up to above the ankle half way up the stair case. He pulled his foot out and hobbled his way to the top of the stairs. From there, he turned left and walked down the hall past the bathroom and stopped in front of his bedroom door. Milo was about to open the door when he heard a series of metallic clattering noises, followed by a loud thud as his bedroom door fell inward. Milo walked into the room, shrugged off his backpack and bent over. He was in the middle of lifting the door back into position when Martin appeared, framed in the doorway.

"Pins fall out again?" he asked.

"Actually, I think it was the screws this time," replied Milo. Together, Milo and Martin raised the door upright and maneuvered it into the proper position. Martin held the door upright while Milo replaced all the screws. Martin let go of Milo's door, which swung easily on its hinges. The door knob came off in his hand. He placed it on the low book case next to the door and went out of the room. Milo picked up his backpack from where he had put it down earlier. He opened the flap and began pulling out its contents. He took the sky blue hard hat out of its box and hung it one of the empty coat hooks by the door next to his hazmat suit, fluorescent safety vest and windbreaker. The steel toed safety boots went into his closet next to his hiking boots and the full face filter mask went on the last remaining hook by the door. He left one of the graphic novels, Doctor Zone Unlimited: The Glorpium Gambit, in his backpack to read over lunch tomorrow. He put the others on his bookcase to read later, pinned the Weird Al tickets to his bulletin board and left Doctor Zone On-line next to his computer, before turning to the two sixth scale figures and the Time Beehicle.

Milo sat down at his desk and flicked on the fluorescent light screwed into the underside of his bunk bed. The bulb, which he had only replaced three days ago, flickered once or twice and then went out. Milo pulled open a drawer and extracted a new light bulb and replaced the old one. He flicked the light switch again and the surface of his desk was with bathed in a bright white glow. Milo took the figure of Doctor Hankry Zone out of the metal collectors' tin. He stood around twenty inches tall and had twenty-five points of articulation. His long flowing tail coat was a deep plum colour and had a slight sheen under the light. The plastic lenses in the Doctor's googles, around the brim of his top hat, glinted in the light and his chronotronic backpack looked as if it were made of metal. Milo pulled out the plastic tab separating the battery from the contact and pushed the button in the middle of the backpack. A pair of leds began blinking white and blue. Milo turned his attention to the various accessories that had come in the box and whistled in amazement. There were two extra heads, each with a different facial expression, as well as four extra pairs of hands and at least a dozen different gadgets and weapons. Milo took Time Ape and the Time Beehicle out their boxes and sat staring the three extremely detailed models and the dozens of accessories spread all over his desk. He looked around his room, wondering where he could put them and at the same time, feeling as though he should do something nice for Zack, Melissa, Amanda and Sara. They had clearly put a lot of thought into what they thought he might like for his birthday. He decided to put them on his low chest of drawers under the large window overlooking his tree house and the backyard. They would look good there in the morning sunlight, he decided. Milo was still wracking his brain ten minutes later as he pulled off his sweater vest and golf shirt, tossed them into his laundry hamper in the corner and then hung up his body armour. His shorts and socks followed his golf shirt and sweater vest into the hamper. Milo was still thinking as he pulled on an old pair of gym shorts and a faded Doctor Zone T-shirt and climbed into bed.

The next day was cold, cloudy and blustery as Milo and his friends walked to school. The school bus's brakes had failed just as it had arrived at the intersection where Druid Drive met Waterford Road. As a result, it went skidding through the intersection, barely missing a city bus going in the opposite direction.

"So, Milo," asked Zack, as the foursome crossed the school parking lot and climbed the steps into the school, "how did you enjoy your birthday yesterday?"

"Oh, it was great Zack," replied Milo, "those sixth scale figures you got me look fantastic."

Zack chuckled, "I'm glad you like them," he said.

Milo seemed to spend the rest of the day something of a fog. His mind was only half on his lessons, but he generally got good grades, so this wasn't really a problem. When Milo wasn't thinking about what he could do for his friends in reciprocation for his unexpectedly expensive birthday gifts, he was trying to find a way get a few minutes alone with Amanda to ask her out to lunch. He thought it might just be his imagination, but in the hallway between classes, she suddenly seemed to be constantly surrounded by at least half a dozen other people, including Zack and Melissa and he very much wanted to talk to Amanda alone. He didn't think that Zack and Melissa would laugh at him, or least if they did, it would be with him, but he wasn't sure he could work up the nerve to ask her out in front of people he didn't know, lest Murphy's Law intervene and embarrass him somehow. The more rational part of his brain told him that he was being ridiculous. Milo knew that Amanda's perception of him had changed markedly over the past year, particularly after they had competed together on Cake Splosion, earlier that year and had unexpectedly won. He really couldn't think of a reason why she wouldn't go out to lunch with him if he asked her, and yet he couldn't quite shake the small voice in the back of his head telling him that she would probably say no.


	8. Chapter 8

As Halloween came and went, October faded into November and Milo began to come down from his birthday high. The chilly wind seemed to carry an extra edge as it blew the last of the Autumn leaves from the trees and sent them skittering down Milo's driveway and into the gutter in front of his house. The slight breeze, in the pre-dawn gloom, was like a knife on his cheeks as he walked to the bus stop at the end of his street and he had had to exchange his windbreaker for his heavy winter coat and trapper's hat. The flaps were pulled down over his ears and the cord was knotted tightly under his chin. His signature flip stuck out prominently from under his hat.

When Milo got to the bus stop, he found the other kids huddled together and stamping their feet for warmth. Milo immediately recognized the broad shouldered figure of Mort Schaeffer and went over to say hello. "Hi Mort," he said, his breath misting in front of him.

"Oh, morning Milo," said Mort. "I heard it was your birthday last week."

"Yeah," said Milo enthusiastically, "thanks for asking. I turned fourteen last week."

"I'm sorry I missed your invitation," said Mort with an apologetic shrug, "but we went to state again-."

Milo waved away the bigger boy's apology away with a gloved hand. "It's OK," he said. "I understand." Zack played second string fullback on the team and had agonized for three weeks over whether or not he would play in the state championship. As Mort was the Geckos' starting quarterback, it would have taken an injury for Coach Mitchell to even consider leaving him behind, and Milo knew that Mort would have been crushed if that had happened. He was being actively scouted by the Danville Thunder, even though he was only fourteen and from other conversations that Milo had overheard, several college teams were interested in Mort as well. "So how did we do?" asked Milo.

"We won by three touchdowns," replied Mort proudly.

"Awesome!" replied Milo, "I bet Coach Mitchell was pretty happy." This was Coach Mitchell's fourth state title in six years.

Mort laughed. "Yeah, he was pretty happy." Mort looked as he had just remembered something. "Oh, seeing as I missed your birthday last week." He rummaged in his backpack and pulled out something lumpy looking and badly wrapped. He handed it to Milo.

"Ummm…..thanks," said Milo, taking the belated birthday gift. He began to pull the wrapping paper off and then stopped. He looked at Mort in surprise. "This is your rose quartz," said Milo, suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable . "Mort, I can't accept this." He made to hand it back, but Mort gently pushed the large shard of crystal back toward Milo.

"No its OK, Milo," said Mort, "I was meditating on my second chakra, when my Third Eye told me that you need it more than I do."

Milo didn't really know what to say to that beyond, "well….ummm…..thanks." At that moment the school bus arrived, and pulled smoothly to a stop in front of the bus stop and all the kids piled on board.

When the bus pulled into the school parking lot, Milo found Zack waiting at the top of the steps. "Hi, Zack," he said.

"Oh, hi Milo," said Zack. He eyed the large shard of pink crystal still cradled in Milo's arms. "What are you doing with Mort's rose quartz?"

Milo shrugged. "He gave it to me."

Zack's dark eyebrows went up in surprise. "He gave it to you?"

Milo nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I think he felt bad about missing my birthday last week-,"

"-but we went to state," interjected Zack, "and we won by three touchdowns."

Milo gave another casual shrug. "He said that his Third Eye told that I need more that he does." He turned to follow the last few stragglers inside. Milo stopped and turned when he realized that Zack wasn't behind him. "Zack?" he asked, half turning to look at his friend. "C'mon, it's almost first bell. We'll be late."

Zack seemed to collect himself at these words. He turned and followed Milo inside out of the cold. "Melissa was supposed to meet me here," he said. "Its not like her to be late."

Milo gave Zack a sympathetic look. "I don't think she's coming to school today," he said. "I was trying to Skype with her last night, and she looked awful." Milo and Melissa had been trying to put their heads together go over their math homework. Melissa had always placed a large proportion of her self worth in maintaining her universally excellent grades. As a result, Melissa generally had a better head for math than Milo did, however, Murphy's Law had kept crashing Milo's computer, and they hadn't gotten very far.

"We should take Melissa her homework," said Zack as they climbed the stairs to the third floor.

"That's a good idea," said Milo as he took off his hat and coat and hung them up in his locker next to his spare change of clothes. He slung his backpack over his shoulders, took out his wallet, pulled out a crumpled five dollar bill and put it in the chest pocket of his coat. Milo shut his locker door, replaced the broken lock and turned to go to class.

The nondescript looking van pulled into the vacant field and stopped, its engine idling in the air of the cold November morning. The side door opened and two men got out. They were both wearing nondescript looking black suits and sunglasses. The first man was in his fifties and had a tall, erect bearing. He looked as though he was used to being in charge. The second man standing next to him was approximately twenty years younger. He had dark hair which starting to recede into a widow's peak and accentuated his lean, angular face.

"Are you sure this is the right location," asked Director Nibblet.

Lieutenant John Tennant reached into the inside pocket of his coat and pulled out a small GPS tracker. He pushed a button and wide the for the device to activate. It pinged, and then pinged again as it acquired several orbiting satellites. It pinged a third time as it locked in on their current location. "We have the right location, Sir," said Tennant.

The Director nodded, "good." He turned back to the van, made a hand gesture and several more people, this time dressed in white coveralls got out. They threw open the back doors and extracted several large black garbage bags. They opened them and proceeded to scatter their contents all over the ground. When they were done, they casually tossed out a couple of cube shaped objects, roughly the size of a baseball among the piles of refuse scattered all over the place. Then they got back in the van and drove off.

Melissa didn't appear at school for the next three days. "She must be really sick," said Zack. "She hardly ever misses a day of school."

Milo nodded in agreement as the two boys walked up the front walk to Melissa's front door. "I can't remember the last time she came down with a case of the flu this bad," he said. He reached out rang and the door bell. "I hope she's OK."

Milo and Zack stood on Melissa's door mat for what seemed to be an eternity. Finally, the door slowly creaked open. Melissa stood framed in the open door, wrapped in a pink dressing gown.

"Hi guys," she said thickly. She looked as bad as she sounded. Her eyes were watering, her throat sounded as if it had been rubbed raw by sandpaper and her sinuses had been filled with cement. She looked as though she had barely slept.

Milo traded a surprised look with Zack. "Oh," he said. "I'm sorry Melissa-,"

"We haven't seen you at school for the last couple of days," continued Zack, reaching into Milo's backpack. He pulled out an armful of textbooks. "So we brought you your homework." He handed them to Melissa.

"Thanks, guys," she said, taking the armful of books from Zack. For some reason that he couldn't explain Zack suddenly felt himself suddenly growing hot, despite the cold weather and he was suddenly glad that no one could see him blushing. Seeing Melissa standing in her doorway looking sick, tired and disheveled, as opposed to her usual smart, confident and assertive self, ready to take on whatever Murphy's Law threw at her hapless best friend, ready to stick up for him whenever he was bullied and treated like a pariah, it was as if the person standing in the doorway wasn't Melissa and Zack suddenly half regretted bringing her her schoolwork, even though he knew that she would have killed the two of them if they hadn't.

"C'mon Milo," he said. "We should let Melissa go back to bed."


	9. Chapter 9

The first dusting of snow fell a few days before Thanksgiving. There was only just enough cover the ground, but Milo's backyard looked as if it had been covered by a pristine white sheet and the snow had settled in a thin layer on the roof and window ledges of Doof's shed, making it look as though it had been decorated with white icing. The only sign of life in the snow covered yard was a clearly marked set of boot prints leading from the shed to the back door into the kitchen, as well as two sets of platypus tracks. When Milo woke up on the morning of Thanksgiving, the smells wafting up into his bedroom from the kitchen made his mouth water. He tugged on his bathrobe, pulled some clean clothes out of his closet and stumped down the hall to the bathroom. Milo pushed open the bathroom door and went inside. He flicked on the bathroom light, which flickered once and then went out. The emergency light over the bathroom door came on and Milo continued his usual morning routine unhindered. The mirror over the bathroom sink spontaneously cracked while Milo was brushing his teeth. After he had finished in the bathroom and gotten dressed, Milo casually sauntered downstairs to the kitchen.

When Milo arrived in the kitchen ten minutes later, after picking up all the fallen pictures in the upstairs hallway, and after having put his foot through the stairs twice, it was to the smell of scrambled eggs and bacon, which spontaneously burst into flames as he entered the room. "Morning, Sara," he said cheerily.

"Morning little bro," replied Sara, as she reached for the fire extinguisher to put out the grease fire on the stove.

Milo eyed the charred mess on the stove. "Sorry about breakfast," he said, looking slightly sheepish.

Sara was just opening her mouth to reply, when Martin walked into the kitchen, still in his pajamas and slippers. Like his son, Martin cast an eye over the stove, which was now covered in a thick layer of fire retardant. "Oh," he said, "I thought I smelled Murphy's Law torching breakfast."

"Morning, Dad," said Milo.

"Good morning, kids," said Martin. He eyed the mess on the stove again. "So whose idea was this?"

Sara shrugged apologetically, "actually, it was mine. It was supposed to be a surprise."

Milo was rooting through the pantry for pancake mix and a mixing bowl. "It's OK, Dad," he said, "I got this."

Sara cast a half amused look at her brother as he enthusiastically set about making pancakes. "Milo, are you sure?" she asked. "The last time you tried to cook you covered the entire kitchen with mac and cheese."

Milo casually waved away Sara's concern. "It was a lesson learned," he said, reaching into the fridge for milk and eggs with his grabber arm from his backpack. "Murphy's Law and yeast don't mix." He poured the wet and dry ingredients into the mixing bowl and mixed everything together. Milo reached under the kitchen counter and pulled open a cupboard door, which came off in his hand. Milo left the doorknob on the kitchen counter, reached under the kitchen counter and pulled out an electric frying pan. He plugged it in and got a shock, which left Milo's hair smoking slightly and standing on end. He smoothed down his hair while Sara laughed at him. Milo spread butter on the hot pan and soon he had half a dozen pancakes sizzling on the griddle. He was shovelling pancakes onto a plate when Brigitte walked into the kitchen.

She sniffed, taking in the mingled smells of burned bacon, hot coffee and chemical fire suppressant, and took in her family rattling around the kitchen. Martin was sweeping up the remains of a coffee cup which had shattered in his hand. Sara was cleaning up the mess of charred bacon and eggs and fire retardant on the stove. Milo was casually flipping pancakes at the electric frying pan on the other side of the kitchen. "Murphy's Law torch breakfast again?" she asked to the kitchen at large.

"Yep," said Milo. He shovelled some pancakes on to a plate and handed them to his mother. "Morning, Mom. Pancakes?"

The doorbell rang at around 2:00 that afternoon, as the smells of a turkey dinner came wafting out of the kitchen. Milo skidded slightly in his stocking feet as he ran to get the door. He threw open the door to find his aunt and uncle and cousin standing on the doormat.

"Hi Milo," cried Uncle Joe. A little snow drifted down out of the lead coloured sky.

"Hi Uncle Joe, Aunt Laura," replied Milo, "Cousin Nate."

A slightly surly looking, dark haired boy around Sara's age stood between Uncle Joe and Aunt Laura. "I do not have Murphy's Law," said Nate Murphy by way of greeting. "It skipped me."

"Right," said Milo, chuckling. Behind Uncle Joe, half way up the front walk from the road, a ten year boy was getting to his feet, having somehow managed to slip and fall on mostly dry pavement. He got to his feet, brushed himself off and walked very carefully up the sidewalk to Milo's front door. "Hi Reggie," he said.

"Hi Milo," said Reggie. He nodded at Nate, "you should see what he did when we went Italy this summer."

"Oh," replied Milo, his curiosity aroused,"what happened?"

Uncle Joe laughed and gave Nate a nudge, "go on and tell him."

Nate sighed and scowled again. "I didn't do anything," he said in exasperation. "It collapsed on its own."

Milo looked from his aunt and uncle, to his cousins, and back again in confusion. "What happened, Uncle Joe?"

By way of an answer, Joe pulled his phone out of his pocket. He began tapping and swiping until he found what he wanted and then handed his phone to Milo, who took it and tapped play. On the screen, Milo saw a slightly shaky image of Michelangelo's David, then a familiar, sullen figure slouched across the camera's field of view. For a second or two nothing seemed to happen, then with the sound of splintering stone, the David collapsed into a heap of rubble.

Milo had no idea how he was supposed to react. On the one hand, Nate had reduced a priceless work of art to the consistency of gravel, but on the other hand, "yeah, Nate," said Milo, with a small laugh. He handed Uncle Joe his phone back, "you definitely have Murphy's Law." Milo turned to Reggie. "I guess you're carving a new one?"

Reggie shrugged. "A block of marble was waiting in my workshop when we got home. Don't ask me how it got there."

Milo was about to open his mouth to say something, when Sara stuck her head out of the living room door. "Milo," she started to say, "we're waiting for you to-," she stopped when she caught sight of who was standing on the doormat. "Aunt Laura! Uncle Joe!" She practically ran down the hall to give her aunt and uncle a hug.

Milo turned to Reggie again. "C'mon," he said, "I'll introduce you to my friends." Milo shut the front door after his aunt and uncle. He turned and went back down the hall into the living room with Nate and Reggie following behind him. He pushed open the living room door just in time to hear Dakota shout triumphantly, "yeah! In your face!"

Zack shook his head. "No way Dakota, you got lucky."

"Oh yeah," Dakota cast a sidelong a Zack, "you wanna go again big man?"

Before Zack could reply, Milo entered, trailed by Nate and Reggie. "Hey guys," he said to the room at large, "I think you remember my cousin Nate-,"

"How could we forget," replied Melissa, with only a very slight note of acid in her voice. Zack and Melissa had met Milo's aunt and uncle and his cousin the previous Christmas when Milo and Sara had surprised their parents by bringing Uncle Joe, Aunt Laura, Nate and their grandparents to town for Christmas Eve dinner. Zack and Melissa had found Joe, Laura and Milo's grandparents to be perfectly likeable, but even Milo, who was almost endlessly polite, even to people who hated him or otherwise didn't want him around, like Bradley and Elliot, had later admitted that he found Nate to be more than a little grating.

"-And my cousin Reggie," finished Milo. "He painted-,"

"-A perfect copy of the Mona Lisa," finished Zack.

Reggie looked at his older cousin and beamed. "You told them about me?"he asked.

Milo shrugged. "I may have told them a couple of stories." He quickly made the introductions. "These are my friends, Melissa, Zack, Amanda and Dakota. That's Perry," The platypus tipped his fedora and chittered a greeting, "and that's Cavenpuss."

"Hello, young man," said Cavenpuss politely.

Reggie gave Cavenpuss a slightly bewildered look, which Cavenpuss studiously ignored. "What is he?" he asked Milo in a low voice.

"A long story," replied Milo. Milo looked around the room, and turned to Dakota. "Where'd Cavendish go?" he asked.

"Probably talking to your parents," replied Dakota, not taking his eyes off of the video game he was playing with Zack. "What can I say, sometimes he's not that much fun at parties."

They spent the rest of the afternoon before dinner gaming and chatting. Reggie pulled his sketch pad out of his bag and began to draw. He was sitting on the floor with his back against the sofa casually sketching and chatting with Zack, Melissa, Amanda, Dakota and Sara.

"Those are pretty good," said Amanda peering over Reggie's shoulder at the near photorealistic landscape flowing from the tip of his pen.

"Thanks," said Reggie. He finished the piece, then ripped it out of his sketchbook and handed it to her.

Sara gaped at Reggie and then at Amanda. She leaned over and spoke to Amanda in a low voice. "He must really like you," she said. "He almost never gives his drawings to anyone, even family."

"Really?" asked Amanda.

Sara nodded fervently. "Milo loves Reggie's art. He's asked for one of Reggie's drawings four times and Reggie won't give him one."

Amanda looked down the sketch in her hands and she suddenly felt slightly uncomfortable. She knew almost nothing about art, but knew enough to recognize that the drawing Reggie had handed her was clearly a masterpiece. If she hadn't actually seen him do it, Amanda wouldn't have believed that it came from a ten year old. "Ummm….thanks, Reggie," she said.


	10. Chapter 10

Amanda gave Sara a confused look and then looked down at the exceptional sketch that Reggie had handed her. "I don't understand," said Amanda. "Milo is Reggie's cousin-,"

Sara nodded. "-But he doesn't share his art, and Milo, being Milo, doesn't want to press the point." Sara paused, wondering how to explain. "Milo thinks there's a connection between Reggie's art and Murphy's Law."

"And speaking of Murphy's Law," put in Zack, he looked as though he was about to ask something he had been wondering all afternoon. "Milo, your dad, your grandpa, your uncle and both of your cousins in the place at the same time?"

Dakota saw Zack's point at once. "Seven Murphys in one place," he said. "That's a lot of Murphy's Law."

Sara nodded, wondering why that hadn't occurred to her as well. She thought for awhile before answering. "Well, it's been awhile," she said. "The last time there were this many Murphys in one place was before Milo was born and it didn't go well, so we stopped having family gatherings." She paused and looked around, as if in anticipation. "The house is pretty sturdily built, but I admit that I'm surprised that nothing's happened yet." As if on cue, Milo, who had been sitting in a corner listening to the conversation, suddenly fell through the floor and landed with a thud in the basement.

Thirteen people made for a tight fit around the Murphys' dining room table. Milo found himself sitting next to Amanda, who was opposite Sara, Zack and Melissa. Nate and Reggie were sitting with Milo's aunt and uncle at the other end of the table. Cavendish and Dakota were sitting in the middle, between Milo's immediate family and Milo, Sara and Milo's friends. Amid the clatter of knives and forks, Milo and his friends continued their conversation.

"Did I understand you right?" asked Milo. "Reggie actually gave you one of his drawings?"

Amanda nodded. "Sara said he almost never does that."

Milo shook his head, "no he doesn't." He paused for a swig from his glass of milk to wash down his mouthful of turkey and mashed potatoes, wondering how to explain. "Murphy's Law doesn't affect all of us in exactly the same way." He paused again, searching for the right analogy. "It's a bit like a fingerprint."

"So what does Reggie have to live with that you don't?" asked Zack.

"Well, Nate for start," replied Milo.

"Wait, so Murphy's Law manifests in Reggie's life through Nate?" asked Melissa in surprise. "How does that even work?" Melissa had once tried to study Murphy's Law. At the time she had had the hope of being able to give Milo the opportunity to live a normal life. As a result, she knew at least as much about Murphy's Law as he did.

"We're not entirely sure," Milo admitted, "but Reggie has a lot more accidents and mishaps than I do for a start and Dad thinks that Nate's fingerprint is his denial that he has Murphy's Law in the first place." Milo paused again and drained the last dregs of his glass of milk. The glass shattered in his hand. A thin trickle of blood welled in his palm, which he cupped and held upright. Without looking, Milo reached into his backpack, pulled out his first aid kit and calmly tied a bandage around his cut hand.

"So what's the connection between Reggie's art and Murphy's Law?" asked Amanda. "Sara said you think there is one."

Milo nodded, colouring slightly. "He draws for companionship," he said simply. Milo watched the expression on Zack, Melissa and Amanda's faces as they absorbed this information. He eyed Amanda. "What did you say to him, anyway?"

Amanda flushed. "Nothing," she replied. "I just said that his drawings were really, really good, and he ripped one out of his sketch book and handed it to me."

"Wait, back up," said Zack. "Milo are you saying, that Reggie has no friends at all."

Milo nodded. "I Skype with him sometimes, when I can get my computer to work," he said, "but he kind of reminds me of myself, before…well…."

"You mean before me," said Melissa, "don't you Milo?" Milo nodded again. It was typical Milo. In spite of the ridiculousness that was his life, he was trying to reach out to his cousin, in whatever way he could to give him a shoulder to lean on.

"I don't know," said Zack, after a moment's thought. "It sounds like Reggie just made some new friends."

Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda were back at school the next day. They met in the library after school to continue work on their on-going school projects. As everyone had been tugging on hats and coats after dinner, preparing to leave before the inevitable turkey coma set in, Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda had taken Reggie aside, where they had all exchanged contact information.

"Reggie, I've got the three best friends in the world," Milo had said, "and my friends are now your friends."

Reggie had looked at Milo like a deer caught in on-coming headlights. "I-really?"

Amanda had nodded. "If you ever want to talk, you know how to get us."

As the four of them sat together talking and checking each other's homework, Milo was quietly proud of his friends. He had thought that Zack, Melissa and Amanda would probably like Reggie, as he was a very likeable kid, but he hadn't expected the three of them to take his cousin under their collective wing in quite the way that they had. It was only Milo's innate humility that prevented him from acknowledging to himself that, yes, he really did have a knack for picking his friends. It was only when Milo realized that he'd been staring at the same paragraph in his social studies text book for ten minutes, that his brain was saturated and he decided to call it quits for the day. "See you later, guys," said Milo, packing his backpack. He pulled on his hat and coat, shouldered his backpack and left the library.

The weather continued to get colder. It was now dark in the morning when Milo walked to the bus stop at the end of his street. On a couple of mornings, Milo had had to exchange his winter coat for his heavy snow suit. The windows of the houses in Milo's neighbourhood cast squares of warm yellow light on bare snow covered lawns and twinkling Christmas lights began to appear around the windows and eaves and garages doors of the houses in Milo's subdivision. When he wasn't thinking about his homework and studying for his exams, which took up most of his time and had left little time much else, he was starting to think about Christmas, which was a little less than a month away. The way in which Zack, Melissa and Amanda had unexpectedly reached out to Reggie had reinforced the feeling that Milo had had after his birthday and he once again started to wrack his brain because he felt that his friends had earned something special, even though he wasn't sure what that was.

A few snowflakes drifted lazily out of a dull, lead coloured sky early one Saturday morning two weeks before Christmas, as Cavendish and Dakota's battered van pulled up at the edge of the large empty parking lot. The engine grumbled for a moment in the still air of the pre-dawn gloom, then fell silent as Cavendish pulled the key out of the ignition. The side door opened and Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda piled out. Phineas and Ferb were absent. They were studying rings of Saturn. They had claimed that they were studying the planets of the outer solar system as school science project. Cavendish handed out the usual trash picks and garbage bags. It was so cold that they had forgone the usual white coveralls. Cavendish and Dakota were both wearing winter coats. Milo and Zack were both dressed in their snowsuits and Melissa and Amanda were equally bundled up against the cold weather. The site was a large one and there were only six of them. Additionally, the freezing weather kept forcing them to stop and warm up. As a result of the forced breaks to take cover from the bad weather and lack of two extra people to make the job go faster, it took most of the day to clean up the site. By the time they were finished it was mid-afternoon and Milo's hands were numb from the bitter cold, even through his heavy ski gloves and he wondered how Murphy's Law would mix with frostbite, probably not very well he decided.

It was snowing heavily on Sunday afternoon as Milo trudged through the snow across the parking lot at the Googleplex Mall. Between the snow and Murphy's Law, a twenty minute bus trip from his house to the mall had take almost forty-five minutes and on two separate occasions Milo had had to talk himself out of turning around and going home. He still had no idea what to get anyone for Christmas, even though he had been wracking his brain for three weeks. The previous Christmas Milo and Sara had surprised their parents by arranging to have Uncle Joe, Aunt Laura, Cousin Nate and Grandpa and Grandma Murphy to come to town for Christmas Eve dinner. It had been the first time since before Milo was born that there had been that many Murphys in one place at one time. As Milo's relations had come for Thanksgiving this year instead of Christmas, it meant that he would have to actually buy Christmas gift for his family and friends.

Milo reached the mall entrance, pulled open the door and went inside, glad to be out of the bad weather. The mall seemed to be more crowded than usual, which Milo assumed to be the result of the bad weather. Deep green garlands hung from the ceiling under the skylights overhead, Christmas lights wound their way up the columns and red and white striped ribbons hung from the handrails on the upper floors. Christmas carols played quietly over the PA system. Milo unbuttoned his coat and pulled off his hat and gloves and stuffed them into a pocket. He walked over to the information board and studied it for awhile, until the LED lighting system inside shorted out and the outer plexiglass casing cracked.

Milo avoided the escalators and elevators, deciding to walk up to the fifth floor instead. Reflections was Brigitte's favourite clothing store and Milo decided that he would start there. As he reached the fourth floor he came up the stairs in front of Safety Barn and twenty minutes later he came out with three matching hard hats, the same sky blue colour as the one that Melissa had given him for his birthday. He had had Zack, Melissa and Amanda's names stencilled onto the back over the axiom of Murphy's Law, "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." He kept walking and made his way up to the fifth floor. He stopped again to orient himself and after a couple of minutes and another shorted out information board, Milo set out for Reflections.

Reflections was tastefully decorated in pastel colours. As Milo wandered amid the various racks of women's clothing and accessories he eventually settled on two silk scarves, one in lilac and the other in pale green. Milo paid for them and left, leaving several overturned mannequins and racks of clothing in his wake. As he left Reflections, he walked slowly, wondering where to go next. He eventually made his way up to the seventh floor to Burke & Gower, where he bought a pair of cuff links for his father before heading back down to the fifth floor and the Trashcandroid's Dungeon.

Milo lingered in the Trashcandroid's Dungeon for a long time, looking at the various action figures, coffee mugs, T-shirts and other collectibles, wondering what to get Sara for Christmas. He knew she'd be happy with anything Doctor Zone related, but he wanted to get her something special, after she and Amanda had surprised him with his Weird Al tickets for his birthday and after picking out some T-shirts and a couple of graphic novels that he knew she wanted to read, he also picked out the chronotronic drill used by the Doctor in Trashcandroid's Revenge, which was Sara's favourite episode. Sara had a couple of high quality prop replicas, but she didn't have any actual items from the show. Mom and Dad and Sara, thought Milo as he left the Trashcandroid's Dungeon, half an hour later, that just leaves Zack, Melissa and Amanda.

He walked down two floors to Waterstone Books, where he emerged fifteen minutes later carrying several books for Melissa, American Presidents: A History, Understanding the Universe and Planet Hunters: Searching for Other Worlds, Murphy's Law having toppled several book cases in the cook book section. That only left Zack and Amanda. Zack played second string fullback for the Jefferson County Middle School Geckos and Milo knew that there was sports collectibles store called Champs up the eighth floor. After hitting the food court for a quick lunch, Milo decided to walk up to Champs to see if he could find something for Zack, who he knew was a fan of the Danville Thunder. He stayed away from the display case full of gleaming Super Bowl rings, which started at $2,500 and escalated rapidly from there. He settled on a jersey signed by the Danville Thunder's starting fullback, Buck Sanderson. That just leaves Amanda, thought Milo, frowning slightly. He really had no idea what she might like for Christmas. He had initially thought of a deluxe personal planner, as she was very, very organized, but he had rejected that idea as being a bit impersonal, and she already an autographed copy of the official Cake Splosion Cook Book. Milo slowly walked around the mall wracking his brain, then he remembered the pictures she had posted a couple of weeks ago from the Love Handel concert she had been to with her cousin. He had been surprised when she had told him that she collected vinyl records and that she didn't have any Love Handel music in her collection.

"Really?" Milo had said in surprise, "you collect vintage vinyl?"

Amanda had nodded. "You don't know everything about me," she had teased. "Have you forgotten that I skateboard as well?"

He had.

He seemed to remember that there was a record store called Notes on the ninth floor. Milo walked up to Notes and browsed through the various categories until he found himself in the section labelled "Classic Rock." He found the L section and began flipping through the various albums until he found Love Handle: Ninja of Love. Milo took it off of the shelf and examined it. It appeared to be in good condition. He took it up the cashier and paid for it, then exited the store, preparing to head home.


	11. Chapter 11

The last week before Christmas was a hectic one. A snow storm left Danville cloaked in a thick white mantle. At school, with exams over, all the kids were in fit of Christmas spirits and anxious for the holidays to begin. As a result, the teachers mostly gave up trying to keep their classes in order and allowed the their charges free reign to do what they wanted, so long as they kept things to a dull roar, which left Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda free to talk in the back of the class. They mostly just chattered and laughed and traded inside jokes about the various scrapes they had gotten into and out of together while the snow fell thickly out the classroom windows and gathered into snow drifts, which were piled against the side of the building.

Two days before the Christmas holidays were suppose to start, Principle Milder came over the school's public address system. "Hello? Hello?" she asked, "is anybody listening? Is this thing actually on? Yeah? It is? OK. Due to the inclement weather we have taken the decision to close the school early and-," the rest of whatever Principle Milder was trying to say was lost in the scramble of bodies and stamp of feet as everyone made for the door.

"I'll meet you guys outside," said Milo, as he, Zack, Melissa and Amanda fought their way through the press of bodies filling the corridors. Milo eventually made his way up to his locker on the third floor. He opened his locker and proceeded to pull on his heavy snow suit, hat and gloves. He put his feet into his winter boots, triple knotted the laces and walked downstairs to where Zack, Melissa and Amanda were waiting for him. He stopped just inside the doors, pulled his traction spikes out of his backpack and slipped them on over his boots. Milo pushed open the door and stepped out side. As soon as he stepped outside, Milo was hit with a blast of icy wind. It seemed to go through him as if he had nothing on. He pulled down the ear flaps of his trapper's hat, knotted the cord tightly under his chin and set off with Zack, Melissa and Amanda trailing behind him. The snow was still accumulating and only came up to just above Milo's ankles. As a result, walking wasn't too bad, but the roads hadn't been plowed yet, and there was enough accumulated snow to shut down the city transit system and the four of them mutually decided it would be best to wait out the storm at Milo's house. The walk from the school, which normally took fifteen to twenty minutes in good weather took at least half an hour. By the time they arrived at Milo's front door, their winter clothing was soaked through and they were all freezing. Milo's hands were numb as he awkwardly turned the door knob, which came off in his hand, as he pushed open the front door and Zack, Melissa and Amanda piled in behind him on to the door mat.

Diogee barked happily at the sound of his hapless master's arrival and gambolled around Milo and his friends as they shrugged off their sodden winter clothing. A second later, Brigitte and Sara emerged from the kitchen, drawn by the mixed sounds of Diogee barking and Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda talking. "Oh hi, kids," said Brigitte.

"Hi, Mom," said Milo. He was red faced from having been out the frigid weather. He pulled off his spikes and left them on the rubber mat by the front door to dry. No sooner had he sat down on the stairs to untie his boot laces, than the stairs gave way and Milo fell over backwards through the stairs and into the basement.

"Are you OK, little bro?" asked Sara, staring down through the hole in the stairs.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Sara," replied Milo. He lay spread eagled on his back. His backpack and a pile of boxes had cushioned his fall. Milo levered himself upright and clambered out of the pile of boxes. He walked over to the basement stairs. Milo put his foot on the bottom most step and it broke. He put a foot on the next step after that, and it broke too. The third step held his weight and Milo carefully walked upstairs. He got the the top of the basement stairs, pushed open the door and walked back down the hall to the front door where he pulled off his boots and snow suit. Milo left his boots to dry on the mat by the door next to his spikes and hung up his snow suit in the laundry room to dry along with everyone else's winter clothing. When he was done, Milo followed the sound of the babble of voices into the living room.

He pushed open the living room door and found Martin, with a cup of hot chocolate in one hand and a Christmas ornament in the other, standing in front of a large spruce tree. Amanda was sorting the boxes of ornaments by size, shape and colour and Zack and Melissa were trying to untangle the Christmas lights.

"Oh, hi Milo," said Martin.

"Hi, Dad," replied Milo.

"Did you fall through the floor into the basement again?" asked Martin.

"Yep," replied Milo.

Martin hung the brightly coloured Christmas ornament on the end of a long, deep green spruce bough and a took a sip of his hot chocolate.

"Milo, can you give us a hand untangling these Christmas lights," called Zack over his shoulder. He held up a snarled tangle of multicoloured lights.

"Oh sure thing, Zack," said Milo. He crossed the room in a couple of strides and together with Zack and Melissa, set about untangling the several snarled green cords. After ten minutes the three of them managed to separate five or six strings of various lengths and colours. Milo took one and plugged it in. The lights in the house flickered a couple of times and went out. "Hmmmm," said Milo thoughtfully, "must have blown a fuse. Be right back."

Milo rooted through his backpack and pulled out a headlight. He flicked it on, put it over his forehead and walked out of the room. He walked down the hall and opened the basement door. He put his foot on the top step and he was suddenly in free fall as the entire stair case collapsed. Milo landed with a hard thud on the basement floor, feeling the jarring impact momentarily compressing his spine. "Oh c'mon!" he muttered, "it's Christmas." Milo quickly checked himself, then got to his feet. He looked around and quickly found the fuse box next the furnace. He extracted his tool kit from his backpack, pried off the cover and examined the interior. Sure enough the main circuit breaker had been tripped. Milo made a couple of adjustments and flipped a switch. He heard a metallic click and the lights came back on a second or two later. Whistling causally, Milo put away his tools and walked over to where the basement stairs had been. He unfolded his collapsible ladder and climbed back up to join his family and friends.

"Basement stairs collapse again?" asked Martin when Milo returned to the living room.

"Yep," replied Milo.

The storm didn't blow itself out until early the next morning. As a result, Zack, Melissa and Amanda spent the night, which bothered the four of them not in the least. Milo loaned his friends spare pajamas and sleeping bags, but none of them slept. They stayed up until well past three in the morning, laughing, talking and playing three long distance games of Skiddley Whiffers and Lard World with Reggie via Skype. When the four of them casually traipsed downstairs and walked, yawning, into the kitchen the next morning, they found Sara standing at the kitchen counter flipping pancakes. "Morning little bro," said Sara brightly.

"Oh, morning Sara," said Milo, suppressing a yawn. He walked around to the far end of the kitchen table, where Brigitte was spreading cream cheese on a toasted bagel and studying a set of architectural drawings. Milo bent down and gave his mother a kiss. "Morning, Mom."

"Morning kids," said Brigitte to the kitchen at large.

"Morning Mrs. Murphy," chorused Milo's friends.

At the same moment, the door from the kitchen into the living room banged open and Doof came through followed by Perry and Cavenpuss. Evidently the bitterly cold weather had driven them out of Doof's shed in the backyard and they had spent the night on the pull out bed in the living room. The three of them appeared to be in the middle of some kind of heated argument.

Heinz was shaking his head. "There is too much quantum flux if you do it that way," he was saying, "the math, your math, by the way, said that the quantum flux would have a variance no more than 0.3, and now you're telling me that the quantum flux has a variance of 0.6!" The round shouldered scientist threw up his hands. "Your math is either right or its wrong, Cavenpuss. It can't be both."

Cavenpuss thought for what seemed like a long moment, then said, "the mathematical model is sound, Heinz-,"

Doof interjected with a triumphant, "aha!"

Cavenpuss ignored him and kept talking, "-it simply needs to be fine tuned, which I have explained to you twice."

Milo was standing at the kitchen counter mixing four cups of hot chocolate for himself and his friends. He had been listening to Doof arguing with Cavenpuss and, not wanting anything to spoil the good mood filling the kitchen, decided to mix two more for Perry and Cavenpuss. Doof was nursing a cup of coffee. He took two more mugs out of the kitchen cupboard, one of which cracked in his hand. He put it aside and took out a third one, opened two more packets of hot chocolate mix, added hot water and handed them to the platypus and his companion. Perry accepted the steaming mug with a tip of his fedora and a chittered thanks. Cavenpuss took the mug of hot chocolate from Milo with a polite nod of thanks for the hapless teenager and a sardonic look for the scientist.

"Finally," he said, "some civilized treatment."


	12. Chapter 12

For the last few days before Christmas, Milo was practically on pins and needles. He absolutely loved Christmas and couldn't wait for Christmas eve. Following the storm, Danville lay buried in a fluffy white mantle. There was almost a foot of snow in Milo's driveway and it took Milo and Martin an entire morning to shovel it out. Martin would have used his snowblower, and been finished in less than twenty minutes, but the gasoline in the gas tank had frozen solid as a result of Murphy's Law, and Milo and Martin were forced do the job by hand. By the time they were finished, Milo was hot in his heavy winter coat, despite the still cold temperature, and his palms were sweating in his heavy gloves. Slightly red faced, more from exertion than the cold, Milo jammed his shovel deep into a snowbank that was taller than he was. I think I should have asked for a heat wave for Christmas, he thought, as he stiffly flexed his numb fingers. His hands often got very, very cold in winter weather due to Murphy's Law. Ordinarily, winter was Milo's favourite season. True, there were more opportunities for slip and fall accidents, but just as Milo usually wore body armour out of general habit, in winter he made a point of wearing traction spikes on his winter boots, which minimized the possibility of mishaps and accidents. Unlike concrete, which was the worst thing ever, snow was soft and easy to fall on. He also enjoyed seeing the city covered in a pristine white blanket. Frost sparkled on the roofs of the houses in Milo's subdivision, the bare branches of the tree in Milo's backyard were edged in delicate white tracery and the thick white blanket that over the city turned the few cars that had been left out in the storm into snowy hummocks and shone brightly in the late December sunshine.

After the traditional Murphy family Christmas Eve dinner of turkey with all the trimmings, Milo gathered with his family and friends around the Christmas tree. There were three piles of gifts for Zack, Melissa and Amanda under the tree, in addition to the gifts that he had bought for his parents and Sara.

Sara opened the card, which read. "To my wizardy big sister, Merry Christmas from your little bro, Milo." Sara ripped off the wrapping paper and immediately let out a squeal of delight as a sleek looking cylindrical object fell out of the wrapping paper and into her lap. "Oh, Milo!" she said excitedly, "This is the Doctor's chronotronic drill-,"

"-from your favourite episode," he finished for her, laughing at her obvious delight.

Sara looked at the prop in her hand and then looked her brother again in amazement. "Really?" she asked slightly stunned, "This is from Trashcandroid's Revenge?"

Milo nodded. "Screen verified and everything."

"Really?" Sara was positively beside herself. She flew across the room and wrapped Milo in a hug, momentarily lifting him off his feet. She hugged him so hard that he thought his ribs might break. "Milo, you are the best little brother anyone could ask for," said Sara. She lowered her hapless brother back on to his dangling feet. "Don't ever stop being you."

Milo stood momentarily confused in the middle of living room. His face was scarlet. He had not expected to Sara to react like that. He was startled out of his stunned confusion by the sudden repeated pinging of his phone. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. Zack, Melissa and Amanda had all posted pictures of Milo in the middle of Sara's bear hug to Facebook. Everyone was laughing. Chuckling along with everyone else, Milo turned his attention back to the pile of gifts under the tree. He bent down and pulled two gifts out from the pile and handed them to Martin and Brigitte, along with a card labelled "Mom and Dad."

Brigitte opened the card, which read, "Merry Christmas from your loving children, best wishes, Sara and Milo."

Martin took the wrapping paper off of the little midnight blue satin box. He opened the lid to reveal a pair of glinting silver cuff links sitting on a little cushion. Martin looked up in surprise. "Milo, these are wonderful. How did you afford these?"

Milo shrugged and nodded appreciatively at Sara. "Well, Sara kicked in a little bit, and I saved my allowance and kicked in the rest."

Martin looked at his children with a look of heartfelt appreciation on his face at the gift they had given him.

"You're welcome, Dad," said Milo.

"And Merry Christmas," said Sara.

As Martin had been unwrapping his cuff links, Brigitte had been running two beautiful silk scarves through her fingers. One was a delicate shade of lilac and the other was a pale green with a floral pattern. Brigitte got up and thanked Milo with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "These are beautiful," she said.

Milo shrugged again. "I went into Reflections a couple of weeks ago and I thought those colours looked nice," he said. He turned his attention to the three piles under the tree for Zack, Melissa and Amanda, handing one to each of them in turn. "These are for you."

The three cards bore the same message. "To the three best friends in the world, Merry Christmas and best wishes, Milo."

Zack, Melissa and Amanda burst out laughing as they unwrapped the three matching sky blue hard hats that Milo had bought for them at Safety Barn. Zack took his out of the box and put it on. He grinned at Milo from under the brim. "Thanks, buddy," he said. He turned to the second gift that Milo had give him. It was soft and shapeless. It felt like clothing. Zack ripped off the wrapping paper, revealing a blue and gold Danville Thunder home jersey. He started to say, "hey thanks Milo-," but stopped as he held it up. He gasped, "oh, wow, a signed Buck Sanderson jersey!"

Meanwhile, Melissa and Amanda were examining their gifts. Melissa was flipping through Understanding the Universe, which was a large hard cover book full of full colour astronomy photos. "Thanks, Milo," she said, "this has some gorgeous pictures."

"Oh, Milo," said Martin, pulling out a large flat gift from behind his chair.

Milo looked up. "Yeah, Dad," he said. He had been in the act of unwrapping a Tobias Trollhammer sixth scale figure from Melissa. "Hey, thanks Melissa," he said excitedly, "This is from Krillhunter X: The Krilling Game."

"This one is for you, from Reggie," said Martin.

Milo looked surprised, and suddenly felt slightly embarrassed. He had not thought to send anything to Reggie for Christmas. He set aside Melissa's half unwrapped gift and took the large present from Martin. He placed on the floor, balancing it on its edge and felt for the edge of the wrapping paper. He immediately found it and tore off a long strip, revealing something under glass and in carved wood frame. Intrigued, Milo tore off the rest of the wrapping paper. He gaped. He would have recognized Reggie's drawing style anywhere. "I-how did-I mean-who-," Milo took a steadying breath. "I've asked for his art four times," he said. "He almost never gives away his drawings," he looked around at his family and friends. "How were you able to get one?" he finally asked the room at large.

"You can thank Amanda," replied Sara.

"Really?" asked Milo, looking at Amanda in amazement.

Amanda nodded, "actually, its all of us, not just me," she said, nodding to indicate Zack and Melissa . "He appreciated you introducing him to us," she shrugged, "but for some reason he really likes me. I Skype with him a couple of times a week-,"

"I'm glad to hear that," interjected Milo.

Amanda continued, "-I just told him that we're your friends and that we understand that living with Murphy's Law can be challenging and that you'd really appreciate having some of his art." Amanda shrugged again. "He just said he'd see what he could do."

Milo finished unwrapping Reggie's framed drawing and let out a low, "ohhhhh." It was a serene

landscape of a quiet lake surrounded by mountains. "It's beautiful" said Milo. He turned to Amanda. "I-uhhhh-well, thanks Amanda." And then he did something that took both of them by surprise. He leaned over and gave her a kiss.

Milo spent the rest of the Christmas holidays in what seemed to be a bit of a daze. He had no idea what had possessed him to kiss Amanda. She had unexpectedly grown to become a very good and understanding friend over the previous year and he appreciated the unexpected effort that she had gone to for him over Christmas, and that she got along well Reggie, but actually kissing her? In front of his family and friends? On Christmas Eve? That wasn't like him. He was still trying to work up the nerve to ask her out to lunch and he felt as though he hadn't helped himself by acting so out of character. He wondered if she would ever agree to go out with him. Why is it that time travel, aliens and parallel realities are easy, he thought more than once during the holidays, but asking Amanda to go to lunch with me is practically impossible. Now that Christmas was over, everything seemed to be sliding down hill toward New Years Eve and the start of the winter semester. Once school started again they would be back into the usual grind of homework and studying and wouldn't have much time to socialize. New Years Eve came and went and Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda stayed up to watch the ball drop over Time's Square on TV. They were back in class four days later, and sure enough, their teachers wasted no time in putting their noses to the grind stone.

"I hope you all had a good Christmas holiday," sad Mrs. Camillichec on the first morning back after the break. Everyone nodded. "Good," she said, "because we still have a lot of work to get through before you graduate at the end of the year."

Milo finally got his chance to talk to Amanda alone a week later. It was the end of the day, and two of them were waiting for Zack and Melissa to finish in the library. "Oh, hi, Amanda," said Milo as he came down the stairs. He slipped and slid down the last few steps on his backside. He cursed inwardly. That's exactly what I didn't want to happen, he thought. He got up, dusted himself off, squared his backpack straighter on his shoulders and walked over to where Amanda was standing.

"Oh, hi, Milo," she said.

Milo opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He had been rehearsing his speech all week, but now that it came to it, his mind had gone totally blank. His ears were suddenly filled with a loud buzzing noise. Milo closed his mouth and took a deep breath. He felt as though he had suddenly jumped from a very high diving board. His stomach fluttered nervously and he suddenly realized that his palms were sweaty. He wiped the surreptitiously on the seat of his shorts. "Amanda," he began, "will you go out to lunch with me?"


	13. Chapter 13

Milo suddenly felt as though he was rooted to the spot and standing in a bright spotlight. He realized all at once that he had been holding his breath and let it out slowly.

Amanda turned to look at him, "I don't know, Milo," she said after what seemed like several eternities. In actuality, it was only a few seconds. "Let me check something." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and began tapping and swiping through her schedule.

She's going to say no, thought Milo desperately, she's not inter-

Amanda put her phone away after another couple of seconds and said, "Oh, I'd like that. Where do you want to go?"

He blinked, as though he hadn't quite heard her. After a second or two he said, "I was thinking of the Diner Downtown, ummm, say on Saturday?"

Amanda thought for a second. Milo realized that he had been holding his breath again and slowly exhaled. "OK," she said at last.

"Great," said Milo. "I'll meet you at your at your building, say at 11:45?"

Amanda nodded, "OK," she said again. "I'll see you on Saturday." Her phone pinged She pulled it out of her pocket again. "That's my ride," she said. "I'll see you later."

If Milo hadn't broken his ankle skiing at Bluster Mountain over the Christmas break, he probably would have skipped all the way home.

The next week seemed to Milo to be almost interminably long. Sara, of course, was jubilant at Milo's news.

"So, how was school today?" ask Brigitte over dinner.

Milo shrugged nonchalantly. "Not too bad," he said. He paused suddenly feeling a little self-conscious, then said, "I asked Amanda to go out with me."

Sara squealed in delight. "Did you really?"

Milo nodded. "I'm supposed to meet her at her building on Saturday at 11:45," he said. "We're going have lunch at the Diner Downtown."

Neal gave Sara a nudge. "Looks like your little brother has a date," he said a with a grin.

"Oh, it's not a date," Milo protested, "we're just going out for lunch."

Sara chuckled. "Are Zack and Melissa going with you, little bro?"

Milo flushed slightly, "well, no," he admitted after a long moment.

"Did you tell them that you were thinking of asked her out?" asked Sara slightly mischievously.

"No," replied Milo slightly confused. He hadn't, now that he thought about it, and he usually told Melissa everything. That's not like me, he thought. At the time he suddenly felt the strange fluttering sensation in his stomach return. Was it a date or not? he wondered to himself. I always thought that a date was supposed be romantic. This is just lunch.

Sara seemed to have guessed Milo thoughts, because she said, "it doesn't have to be romantic to be a date, little bro."

The following Saturday dawned bright and clear. Milo got up, blearily shook the sleep from his eyes and stumped down the hall into the bathroom. After showering and brushing his teeth. Milo went down stairs for breakfast.

"Morning, little bro," said Sara from the kitchen table. She was half way through buttering several pieces of toast.

"Morning Sara," said Milo with a stifled yawn, still in his bathrobe. He walked over to the pantry and opened the door. It came off in his hand. He pulled a screwdriver out of his backpack and quickly reattached it, then he reached in and pulled a box of cereal off of a shelf. Milo took a cereal bowl down from a shelf and then took down a second one after the first one cracked. He poured himself a generous amount of cereal and added milk and sugar. Milo was halfway through his bowl of cereal when Martin entered the kitchen. He was still dressed in his pajamas and slippers.

"Morning kids," he said to the kitchen at large.

"Morning Dad," said Milo, between swigs of his orange juice.

"Good luck on your date with Amanda," he said.

"Thanks Dad,"said Milo as he drank the dregs of the milk in the bottom of his cereal bowl, "but it's not a date."

Sara chuckled, "no,"she said, "it's a date."

Martin looked back and forth between his two children. "Well, I'm staying out of this one," he said.

Milo finished his breakfast and deposited his bowl, spoon and juice glass in the kitchen sink and went back upstairs accompanied by the usual clatter of falling objects. He brushed his teeth again, cracked the bathroom mirror in the process and unexpectedly spent a considerable amount of time agonizing over what to wear. In the end, he chose a a white button down shirt, navy blue dress pants, his black loafers, red bow tie and his usual sweater vest. He finished getting dressed and quickly pulled a comb through his hair. Milo rummaged through his closet and pulled out his blue and purple ski jacket. He pulled it on, shrugged on his backpack, tugged his matching ski hat down around his ears and pulled on his heavy winter gloves. Danville had experienced a January thaw in the couple of weeks between Christmas and the start of the winter semester, and some of the snow had melted, but it was still cold outside. Milo double checked his wallet to make sure he had money and his transit pass. Milo took a deep breath, his stomach was fluttering nervously again and walked casually down stairs.

As Milo passed the kitchen, Brigitte was sitting at the kitchen table studying a set of plans and sipping a cup of tea.

"Bye Mom, " called Milo, as he passed.

Brigitte looked up as her son passed the kitchen door. The coffee mug in her hand cracked and she suddenly had to move her drawings to keep them from being splattered by hot tea.

"Milo," she said, "don't you look nice."

"Oh, thanks, Mom," he said. "I'm meeting Amanda for lunch."

"Oh, I forgot that toady was your date with-"

"-It's just lunch, Mom," Milo interjected.

"Right," replied Brigitte, "well tell Amanda that I said hi."

Milo nodded. "OK, Mom," he said. He gave his mother a kiss. "I'll see you later."

The bus ride from the bus stop at the end of Milo's street, which normally took around twenty minutes, today took almost forty-five minutes. Milo had to change buses three times. The first time, the bus's engine died four blocks from his house. The second time, the bus driver narrowly missed a garbage truck going in the opposite direction, skidded off the road and plowed into a tree. The third bus stalled in the middle of an intersection when its battery died three blocks from Amanda's building. Milo got off and walked the three blocks in about ten minutes.

Milo pushed open the door to Amanda's building, stepped into the small anteroom and pulled out his phone. He quickly tapped through his contacts and found Amanda's number. He tapped her number and put his phone to his ear.

"Milo?" she said after a second, "Are you downstairs?"

"Hi, Amanda," replied Milo. "Can you buzz me in?"

"Just wait right there, " she said, "I'll be right down." As she spoke, the door chimed and swung open and Milo stepped inside. The lobby of Amanda's build was large and spacious. The floor was covered with blue-grey granite tiles. Clusters of furniture dotted the space and large windows let in the late morning sunlight. Milo unzipped his jacket, took off his hat and gloves, shrugged off his backpack and sat down in a chair to wait.

He had only been seated for a few minutes, when the elevator door chimed open and Amanda stepped out. Milo stood up as though he had sat on something. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled to calm the nervous fluttering in his stomach. "Hi, Amanda," he said. Milo suddenly felt as if he were a little overdressed. Amanda was wearing her usual magenta pant suit.

"Hi, Milo," she replied. "You look very handsome."

Milo coloured slightly. "Oh, ummmm…thanks." Did she just call me handsome? he thought. He began casting around for something nice to say to her in return. "Your hair looks nice today," he said after what seemed like several eternities, which only lasted a few seconds. As soon he said it, Milo felt as though he could have kicked himself. Really? he thought, "Your hair looks nice today?" Why not talk about the weather?

A pink tinge to match her clothes appeared in her cheeks. "Ummm…thanks," she said. "It's just my usual style."

"Oh," said Milo, "right." He slung his backpack over his shoulders. "Let's go," he said.

The Diner Downtown sat on the corner of Maple Street and 9th Avenue, five blocks away from Amanda's sleek, post-modern looking apartment building. It only took Milo and Amanda ten minutes to walk from the lobby of her building to the diner. The Diner Downtown was a low red and white building with a welcoming two tone blue awning, large windows and a slowly revolving coffee cup on the roof. Milo held the door for Amanda and they went inside. They sat down and the waitress came by with menus.

"Hi," she said, "my name Chantel, I'll be by to take your order in a little while. Can I get you something to drink in the mean time?"

Milo thought for a second. "I'll have a chocolate milkshake."

Chantel scribbled his order on her notepad

"A glass of Pep with ice and a slice of lemon, please," replied Amanda.

More scribbling. "OK," said Chantel, "I'll be right back with your drinks."

She left to get their drinks and an awkward silence fell. Milo knew he should say something to Amanda, but he wasn't sure what to say. C'mon, he thought to himself, think of something, anything. He already knew what he was going to order, but scanned the menu again to give himself time to think. A buzzing noise seemed to fill his ears.

"Milo?"

Milo suddenly realized that Amanda was talking to him. "Oh," he said, "yeah, Amanda?"

"Did you watch any of Cake Splosion last night?" she asked.

"Oh, uhhh, no," he said, "Sara and I always watch Doctor Zone on Friday nights. We've done that ever since I was five. We hardly ever miss an episode."

Milo thought he saw something flicker across Amanda's face. "That's nice," she said, "that you and Sara have such a close relationship."

The truth was Milo hadn't really thought about. He had always taken it for granted that Sara had been in his corner and couldn't imagine his life without her support.

Before Milo could speak, Chantel deposited Milo's milkshake and Amanda's glass of Pep with ice and a lemon slice on the table in front of them. "Are you two ready to order?" she asked.

"Oh, ummm, yeah." Milo scanned the menu again. "I'll have a cheeseburger with everything on it and a side of cheese fries."

Amanda quickly looked over the menu. "Chicken Caesar sandwich and french fries, please."

Chantel scribbled down their orders. "OK, I'll be right back with your orders," she said.

Milo took a long pull from his milkshake. He was trying to think of something to say to her again, and drawing another blank. Why is talking to her suddenly so hard? he wondered. "So, tell me about your family, " he asked after a couple of minutes of wracking his brain. It had occurred to him that they had been friends for over a year and Milo didn't know very much about her.

Amanda shrugged. "My family's not that interesting," she said. "My mother is an accountant and my father works in the District Attorney's office."

"Oh, well that must be interesting," said Milo.

Amanda shook her head. "He's a legal researcher," she said. "Most of his cases are pretty dry."

"Oh," replied Milo. He was about to say something else, but Chantel came by their meals at the moment and Milo was secretly relieved. Ordinarily, he has no problems talking to Amanda, but for some reason he suddenly couldn't string two words together to save his life. It occurred to him to wonder if this Murphy's Law trying to prevent him from simply enjoying lunch with a friend. He took a bite of his hamburger, trying to think of something to say.

"So, how did you become a Weird Al fan?" asked Amanda. "I've never heard his music before, but I found him on iTunes and some of its pretty funny."

"Oh, he's great," said Milo enthusiastically, grateful for something to talk about, "Dad got me into him when I was little." He paused to take a long pull from his milkshake. "I wasn't as good at managing Murphy's Law when I was little," he shrugged. "I used to hurt myself more, anyway, Dad used to play his music for me to make me feel better." He had been talking continuously while he had been eating and he speared the last of his cheese fries with his fork. "He taught me to be an optimist, and he's the reason why I play the accordion. I'm really looking forward to meeting him in April."

Chantel came by again to collect their plates. "Can I get you anything else?" she asked.

Milo glanced at Amanda, who shook her head. "Just the bill please," said Milo.

The walk from the Diner Downtown back to Amanda's building took fifteen minutes. Milo rode up in the elevator with Amanda and they parted company at the door to her unit.

"Thanks for inviting me to lunch," said Amanda.

"Uhhhh….yeah," said Milo, "you're welcome. It was a nice afternoon."

"We should do this again sometime," said Amanda.

"I'd like that," said Milo.


	14. Chapter 14

The unmarked, battered looking and weather beaten van pulled off of the road. It turned from the main highway leading out of Danville and on to an unmarked muddy track. It bumped down the unpaved road, bouncing up and down on its suspension, the hard jolts rattling the driver and the passengers, throwing them around the van's utilitarian interior like dice in a cup.

Lieutenant John Tennant instinctively grabbed the dash board as the van hit a particularly deep rut. He heard something bang loudly in the back of the van. "Slow down, Wolinsky," he said as the van jounced its way over another deep rut, "you're going to damage something."

Major Mike Wolinsky momentarily took his eyes off of the dirt track he was driving down to look at his partner. "The equipment is fine," he said. "It was designed for rough treatment."

The van hit another deep rut, splashing muddy water over the windshield. "You've had the same briefing I have, Major," replayed Tennant, "the target destabilizes everything in his immediate vicinity just by being in a given location." The van hit another rut. "The equipment has been designed to compensate for that, but only if it works."

"Yeah, I know all that, Lieutenant," said Wolinsky, "but if I slow down in this mud, we'll get stuck, and as we're not supposed to be here…." he trailed off. There was a contingency for that, but it wasn't supposed to be implemented unless there was no other choice.

Tennant was about to answer, but the van rolled through a gap in the trees and came to a stop. The field was strewn with garbage. Wolinsky shut off the engine and the two men got out. They walked around to the side door and pulled it open. The back of the van was full of equipment, cameras, motion detectors, listening devices and particle sniffers, as well as a portable satellite uplink which would allow them to keep a remote eye on the site where everything was being set up. Tennant reached into the pocket on the back of his seat and pulled out a clipboard with a checklist and a diagram of how the equipment was supposed to be deployed. He pulled a piece of equipment out of the back of the van and checked it against the list in his hand and the placement diagram. "C'mon, Wolinsky," he said. Wolinsky had also reached into the back of the van of the van and pulled out a particle sniffer. "Watch your step. This place has a few surprises."

It took them several hours to set up the equipment. Despite what Tennant had said to Wolinsky, the equipment had to be properly placed and calibrated in order to function properly. Some of the equipment required an unobstructed line of site in order to function, however, the equipment also had to be concealed, or the target would be spooked and try to bolt. The briefing they had been given said that the target was smart and had a high level of situational awareness. The equipment had all been custom designed for this mission by Kreitech, V Tech Industries and Sycorax. According to the briefing, Kreitech and V Tech Industries were providing communication equipment, particle sniffers and a dampening system. Sycorax was a leading biotech firm based in San Fransokyo. It's CEO, Liv Amara was engaged in cutting edge genetic engineering research and had heard rumours through various sources of a fourteen year old boy with the unusual ability to alter all outcomes in his immediate vicinity toward negative results. Not wanting to tarnish its ecologically responsible image, Sycorax had approached the the Outfit for assistance and using a series of shell companies, Sycorax and the Outfit had approached Kreitech and V Tech Industries with the specifications for the equipment they had determined they would need and Kreitech and V Tech Industries had built it, not knowing what it was for.

As he finished setting up and calibrating the equipment, Tennant reflected that had he known, Victor Verlizer would have appreciated the irony that kid he was help to catch was the very kid who had single handily destroyed his company the year before just by posting a video to Facebook. Tennant and Wolinsky made a last check of all the equipment. Everything was in place and working properly. Tennant recalled the picture of the kid from the briefing, his name was Milo, Tennant seemed to recall. It was shame, he thought, he seemed from his picture like he was a nice kid, and he was never going to know what hit him.

The weak mid-January sunlight shone through the windows of the Jefferson County Middle School library on Monday afternoon. Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda were clustered together in a corner of the library with their heads bent over their school work. From behind a pile of his school books Zack stole a look at Milo and Amanda. The two of them had their heads together conversing quietly over their history project. Milo had caught them off guard waiting for the school bus that morning.

"Morning guys," Milo had said with a cheerful wave as he had met them at the bus stop at the end of Druid Drive.

"Morning buddy," Zack had said, still half asleep in the predawn light. "You're in a good mood this morning,"

"Morning Milo," said Melissa, "have a good weekend?"

"Oh, hi Melissa," Milo had said, "yeah, not too bad," he had said with a characteristic casual shrug. "I went to lunch with Amanda at the Diner Downtown."

Zack and Melissa had looked at each other in slight surprise. "You and Amanda-," Zack had said.

"-Actually went on a date?" Melissa had finished.

"What?" Milo had said, "no, it was just lunch."

"So, you just happened to meet at the Diner Downtown?" Melissa had asked.

"No, I picked up at her building," Milo had replied. Why does everyone think we went on a date? he had asked himself, confused again.

Zack had chuckled. "It's OK, Milo," he had said. "Amanda's loosened up a lot lately, but she's still kind of a perfectionist-,"

"-And well, you're you," Melissa had finished for him. "Don't get us wrong," she had continued, "You and Amanda going out to lunch together is kind of surprising, but it's a nice surprise."

Zack stole another glance at Milo and Amanda, who were still conversing quietly over their homework and suddenly experienced an unexpected twinge of jealousy. He pushed it aside. He shouldn't be jealous at Milo. Zack knew full well that Murphy's Law frequently reduced Milo's life to utter chaos. If he had been able to spend a Saturday afternoon having a quiet lunch with Amanda, without Murphy's Law turning everything into a chaotic mess, Zack felt like he didn't have the right to be jealous of those rare moments when Milo actually got to live something like a normal life. Zack finished his math homework and pulled out his social studies book. His gaze stopped momentarily on Melissa, who was bent over their joint history project, making some notes. As he looked at her, he thought she looks nice today. The weak afternoon sunlight shining through the library window was in her hair, making it glow slightly. Zack stopped himself, wait, he thought, did I just think, "she looks nice, today?" He suddenly remembered his chance encounter with Melissa at the mall in October just before Milo's birthday. He had had the same thought then, after they had spent the afternoon together shopping for Milo's birthday presents. He felt himself growing hot and he was glad that his dark complexion meant that nobody could see him blush. She was wearing her usual jacket, tank top and skirt, and yes, thought Zack, she looks nice today. He sat up. Why was he thinking like this? He stole a look over the top of his books at Milo and Amanda. They were still talking quietly about their homework. He looked down at his social studies book, trying to concentrate on the chapter the were supposed to be reading for their next class, but he couldn't concentrate. Zack sighed. He shut his text book with an unexpectedly loud thump.

Milo, Melissa and Amanda looked up from their school work as one. Milo studied his friend with a concerned look on his face. "Everything OK, Zack?" he asked.

"I-no," said Zack at last.

"Zack, what is it?" asked Amanda.

Zack shrugged. "Its nothing," he said. He suddenly felt a bit guilty about lying to Milo, "I just have a headache, is all." He swept his homework into his bag. "I'll see you guys later." He got up and left the library.

As he left the library, Zack thought he could feel Milo's eyes on him. Milo was very perceptive and could usually tell when he was being lied to. For a second, Zack was tempted to turn around. He wanted to walk right up to Milo and say…..what, exactly? If Zack was thinking what he thought he might be thinking, about Milo's closest friend, no less, he wasn't sure what Milo would do. Probably nothing, thought Zack, Milo is usually pretty easy to get along with, but as soon as he thought this, Zack remembered what Milo had told the three of them in Duckburg. Murphy's Law didn't just affect him physically, it affected how he perceived his relationships with other people. And you want to get involved with his oldest friend? Zack asked himself, bad idea. Zack remembered again how he had unintentionally insulted Milo in the sewer on the day they had met, while waiting for the school bus at the bus stop at the end of Milo's street. Zack had never apologized to Milo for that. Well, Milo never asked for one, Zack thought, then thought maybe you should start there, before you start thinking about Melissa. Zack sighed again. But he's going out with Amanda, thought Zack a little hopefully, as he reached the edge of the school parking lot, he doesn't think about Melissa like that. As soon as the thought occurred to him, he thought, No, Milo doesn't think about her like that, but they've been friends since they were six. He's been through a lot with her. His family treats her like she's one of them. Zack sighed again as he crossed the street where Druid Drive ran into Waterford Road. If you get involved with Melissa and he doesn't approve, Zack thought as he crossed the street, where does that leave you? He reached the other side of the street and turned right, away from the direction to Milo's house, which he could see in the distance halfway down the block. Martin's battered old Range Rover was sitting in the drive way. As he reached the intersection where Oakmont Street met Waterford Road, he reflected that maybe he should just talk to Milo about Melissa, and yet somehow that seemed like the hardest thing in the world to do.


	15. Chapter 15

February began with a thin, freezing drizzle. It covered everything with a thin sheet of ice and left Danville looking as though the city had been encased in glass. The weight of the ice brought down tree branches and turned the sidewalks in Milo's subdivision into a skating rink. Even with his spikes on his winter boots, Milo had to be extra careful walking to the bus stop in the morning, as his ankle, which he had broken just before Christmas skiing at Bluster Mountain had only just fully healed and was still very tender. There were a lot fewer kids waiting at the bus stop in the morning and more kids hobbling around the school hallways on crutches or with an arm in a sling and more than once the school bus had gone sliding through the intersection, having spun out on a patch of black ice that had formed the night before. It was as though all of Danville had suddenly been afflicted with Murphy's Law.

"Oh, hi Zack," said Milo brightly one morning in the second week of February, as the other boy came crunching through the ice from where he lived on Oakmont Street. Both Zack and Melissa had taken a lead from Milo's book and bought the same kind of heavy duty traction spikes that Milo habitually wore on his winter boots. Milo cast a glance over Zack's left arm, which was in a sling. "What happened?" he asked sympathetically.

Zack shrugged. "Tripped over Darius. We were helping Dad put salt on the driveway. He was fooling around and….." he trailed off and shrugged again. Darius and Eli were Zack's four year old twin brothers. Zack was always talking about how they could eat with their feet, an image that Milo had always found to be a bit creepy. Milo had yet to meet them. Milo patted the pockets of his heavy winter coat, as though searching for something, and eventually produced a felt tipped pen.

"Do you want me to sign it?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure," replied Zack.

He noticed that Melissa had already written on Zack's cast. She had drawn a heart and written, "best wishes, MC." With fingers made fat and a bit clumsy by his winter gloves, Milo wrote in his usual crabbed scrawl, "get better soon, MM." As Milo scribbled his message on Zack's cast, he caught a brief glance at Zack's face. He thought Zack looked tired and a little wan. There were bags under his eyes, as though he hadn't been sleeping very well. "Everything OK, Zack?" he asked.

For a second, Zack considered telling Milo what he had been wanting to tell him for the last couple of weeks, but something stopped him. He shrugged again, "everything's fine," he said, with a slightly forced sounding note of cheerfulness in his voice. "It's just that it's February, you know?"

Milo nodded in sympathy. He knew full well what Zack meant. Sometimes, Murphy's Law could work in tandem with the weather to greatly alter his current mood. The shorter days and lack of sunlight in January and February sometimes left Milo with a very, very gloomy feeling. Zack had decided that he should talk to Milo about Melissa, but he couldn't seem to find the right way to broach the subject, or to find the right opportunity. The rational part of Zack's brain told him that he should simply talk to Milo here and now, but every time he tried, his mind went blank and his ears were suddenly filled with a loud buzzing noise that seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Zack sighed to quietly himself again. He opened his mouth and had been about to speak when Melissa came crunching up from the other direction on her spikes.

"Morning guys," she said with a wave.

"Oh, hi Melissa," said Zack and Milo.

"Hi, Milo," she said, "how's February treating you?"

Milo shrugged. "February and Murphy's Law," he said. "About the same."

Zack gave Milo and Melissa a slightly confused look, "wait, does Murphy's Law have to with February?" he asked. "Is there something that happens to Milo that only occurs in February?"

Milo and Melissa both nodded. "In the right circumstances, the weather, especially the lack of sunlight can have a negative affect on Milo's emotional state," Melissa explained. She gave her best friend a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

"So it's a bit like Seasonal Affective Disorder?" asked Zack.

"Not really," replied Milo, as a truck jackknifed through the intersection behind him.

"It's just Murphy's Law in February," said Melissa.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" asked Zack.

Milo gave Zack an appreciative look and shook his head. "Thanks, Zack, but no, not unless you can make it not be February."

Zack chuckled. "Sorry, buddy," he said. "I guess maybe Cavendish and Dakota could have, but they've been banned from using time travel, haven't they?" Zack looked at the truck that was blocking the intersection. He pushed back the cuff of his jacket and looked at his watch. "We had better get walking," he said, "otherwise, we'll be late for school."

Milo's low mood mostly pushed Zack's desire to talk his best friend about how the feelings he thought he might have for Melissa out of his mind. Murphy's Law frequently reached into Milo's life in strange and counterintuitive ways, his inability to wear lace-up running shoes, for example, but Zack had had no idea that it could do that to Milo.

"Is there anything we can do to help him?" asked Zack over lunch. Zack and Melissa were alone. Milo had arranged to meet Amanda in the library to finish some of their homework.

Melissa gave Zack a sympathetic look. "It's not normal to see Milo like this," she said in commiseration. "He's usually so out going, but unfortunately not every Murphy's Law situation has a clever solution. Sometimes it's a slog. Milo knows that. He'll be fine."

Zack considered this information. He didn't like the idea of simply letting Milo stew in his own juices, Murphy's Law or otherwise. The previous winter, while trying to get school, Milo and Zack had drifted out sea on an ice floe. They had been swallowed by a whale and Zack had started to panic. In spite of his own fear, Milo had talked him through it, and they had been able to escape and get to school on time. "Still," replied Zack, "do you honestly think that Milo wouldn't try to make us feel better if the situation were reversed?"

"No," replied Melissa, "Milo would try to reach out if he could."

"He tried to cheer me up when I broke my leg last spring," said Zack. He had suffered a bad fall and a compound fracture while unveiling a new interpretive dance routine the previous April. As a result of the incident, Zack had briefly considered giving up interpretive dance and once again, Milo had talked him around.

"Yeah," said Melissa, "I remember that." Milo and Martin had both broken their little toe on their right foot, while Diogee had had a broken tail. In fact, almost everyone that Milo knew reasonably well had suffered a minor injury of one form or another on the same day. "I broke my foot," she said. "So what are you suggesting?"

Zack thought for awhile, considering what they could do to support Milo. "I'm not sure," he said after a few minutes, "why don't we call his parents? Maybe they might some ideas."

"Good call," Melissa.

Zack pulled his phone out of his pocket and proceeded to tap through his contacts until he found "Milo's Mom" under and dialled her number. A second later Brigitte appeared on Zack's screen. He positioned his screen so that Brigitte could both of them.

"Hi Mrs. Murphy, " said Zack.

"Hi Zack,"she said, "Hi Melissa. Is everything alright with Milo?"

"Oh yeah, Milo's fine," replied Zack, "it's just we know how February leaves Milo feeling a little down sometimes and we wanted to do something to make him feel better."

Brigitte nodded, "that sounds like a great idea. Let me put Martin on." She appeared to tap something out of sight on her phone and a second later, Martin appeared on Zack's screen. He seemed to have just come in from outside. He appeared to be in an office and was wearing a yellow hard hat and a heavy winter coat.

"Hi kids," said Martin,"Is Milo OK? Did he forget his body armour again?"

"No, it's nothing like that Mr. Murphy," said Melissa. "It's just that it's February and-,"

"Oh, I see,"replied Martin at once. He gave them a sympathetic look. "Milo's always found February to be a bit of slog. Somehow, Murphy's Law gets into his head in February. There's not much any of us can do about it, I'm afraid."

"We know that," replied Zack, "but Milo's always been there for us when we needed him and-,"

Martin nodded. Of all of Milo's many personal qualities, the one that Martin had always been most proud of was his son's almost endless ability to put everyone around him before himself, even when other people didn't want him around.

"-Zack thinks his spirits could use a bit of a lift," interjected Melissa.

Martin nodded again. "Unfortunately it doesn't really work like that," he said, "but I think Milo will appreciate the effort all the same."

"I don't think we should do anything too energetic," said Brigitte.

"I agree," replied Zack. "Just us and maybe some kids from school."

"We could make it a surprise," said Martin.

Melissa nodded. Milo had been positively overjoyed the previous year when Zack, Melissa and Amanda had taken him go-karting and thrown him a surprise party for his thirteenth birthday. "I think Milo would really like that."

"So, I guess that just leaves when and where," said Zack.

Martin shrugged. "We'll do it at our house," he said, "but it'll have to be next week. All the holes should be fixed by then." Milo had fallen through his bedroom floor and landed in the basement while getting ready for school that morning.

The bell signalling the end of lunch rang and all around them kids were pushing back their chairs and shoving their books back into their bags with a loud babble of voices.

"Thanks for all your help, Mr. Murphy," said Melissa, picking up her things.

"Oh, you're both welcome," replied Martin, "I don't think Milo could have ever found better friends than the two of you if he tried."

Zack shrugged again. "It's the middle school code, Mr. Murphy," he said.

Melissa nodded. "Yeah, no one gets left behind."


	16. Chapter 16

Zack and Melissa filled Amanda in on their discussion with Brigitte and Martin three days later. "That sounds like a good idea," she said. "I had no idea that Milo could be affected like that."

Melissa nodded. "Since he was five," she said.

"I don't suppose Milo has ever," Zack paused searching for the right word, "seen anyone for this particular aspect of Murphy's Law?"

"You mean like a therapist or something?" asked Melissa.

Zack nodded. "Why not?" he asked. He suddenly recalled the day he had met Milo at the beginning of the previous school year. He had just moved into Milo's subdivision a couple of days before hand and the two boys had met while waiting for the school bus at the bus stop at the end of Milo's street. The other kids waiting for the school bus had gaped open mouthed as Zack had casually struck up a conversation with the slender, unassuming looking boy of average height standing several feet apart the other kids waiting for the bus. Zack had been confused by the signs that the other boys had tried to give him. "What's all that about?" he had asked.

The boy had turned to him. "Oh," he had said mildly, "you must be new here. I've got a bit of a reputation."

"So what are you, a tough guy?" Zack, had asked.

The other boy had laughed mildly, "Oh, I don't think anyone's ever called me tough before." The boy had casually thrust out a long fingered hand. "I'm Milo"

Zack had shaken it. "I'm Zack." The hair raising morning that followed, which began with Zack and Milo nearly being run over by a section of concrete drainage pipe and ended with the two of them drifting down the Danville River in the back of a dump truck, was the first of many such misadventures that Zack had found himself mixed up in as a result of becoming friends with Milo over the course of the following year. Since becoming friends with Milo, Zack had gradually learned to overcome his insecurities, yet even as he had, and had watched Milo grapple with the day to day instabilities that Murphy's Law regularly him presented with, Zack had wondered how Milo managed to cope with the mental stress that Murphy's Law placed him under.

Zack shrugged. "Well, I mean I know Milo has his book of shark mantras-," he began.

Amanda gave Zack and Melissa a slightly confused look, "wait, Milo has a book of shark mantras?" she asked.

Melissa nodded. "Yep. He packs it in his backpack fairly often." She paused. "I gave it to Milo for Christmas when he was nine. I thought it was funny. I never though he'd never actually use it, but he does."

Zack had first encountered the book in question the previous year when Milo has run the Race for Runts, a charity race put on by the Danville SPCA. Milo had run the race every since he was ten, but until last year had never finished, on account of his backpack, which was heavy and slowed him down.

"Mr. and Mrs. Murphy tried therapy for Milo a couple of times," Melissa continued, "when this first started to happen, they thought that Milo might be experiencing something like PTSD."

"But I take it that something happened?" asked Amanda.

Melissa nodded. "If by something, you mean Milo's therapist emerged from the room crying fifteen minutes into his first session?" she asked, "then yeah, something happened."

While Melissa has been talking, Amanda has been typing on her phone. Zack and Melissa's phones both pinged at the same time. They pulled their phones out and looked at them. Amanda had sent them a list of things they would need.

Zack quickly scanned down the list. Overall, it looked good except, "I don't know about balloons and party streamer," he said. "This is supposed to low key."

"OK," replied Amanda, "fine, no party streamers. Just make sure you get everything else."

Over the next two weeks, Zack, Melissa and Amanda quietly gathered everything on Amanda's list of supplies, including several cases of Pep, in several different flavours, including original, cherry, Milo's favourite, lemon and vanilla, as well as pistachios, Milo's favourite snack food, and peanuts, pretzels and several different kinds of potato chips.

"We'll have to find a way keep Milo occupied," said Zack in the middle of the following week.

"Well, we could have Milo pick up the cake," suggested Amanda.

Zack, Melissa and Amanda all looked at each other. "Won't that tip him off that something's going on?"asked Zack, "and we want the cake to get to his house in one piece."

Melissa appeared to be thinking. "No, that's actually a good idea," she said. "One of us should be able to keep Milo distracted for a little while."

"Well, until Murphy's Law hits," said Zack with a chuckle. "OK, I'll be the distraction. This was my idea anyway."

The next Saturday dawned cloudy and cold. Light snow flurries drifted down out of a lead coloured sky. Zack got up, showered, brushed his teeth and walked down stairs into the kitchen. Marcus Underwood was nursing a cup of coffee. Zack's mother, Dr. Eileen Underwood was sitting at the kitchen table buttering some toast. She looked tired, having just finished a night shift in the ER. Dr. Underwood was a trauma surgeon at Danville General Hospital.

Marcus looked up from his cup of coffee. "Morning, Zack," he said.

"Morning Dad," replied Zack with a stifled yawn. He walked around to the other end of the table a gave his mother a kiss. "Morning Mom," he said. "How was the night shift?"

Dr. Underwood gave a tired shrug. "Pretty quiet," she replied. "A car crash victim, two gun shot wounds and a slip and fall accident." She took a bite of her toast. "Pretty routine stuff mostly." She washed down her mouthful of toast with a swig from her glass of orange juice. "So what have you got planned today?"

Zack shrugged. "I'm suppose to meet Milo downtown," he said, "and then we're going back to his house. Melissa and I have a bit of surprise waiting for him."

"What kind of surprise?" asked Marcus.

Zack shrugged again. "Nothing elaborate, just a get together with some kids from school, and Milo's family, and I think Cavendish and Dakota are supposed to be there as well."

"OK," said Marcus, "just make sure to be home in time for dinner."

Zack nodded. "OK, sure."

After bolting down a quick breakfast, he went upstairs to get dressed. Zack rummaged through his closet and pulled out a clean pair of jeans and then tugged on his usual long sleeve T-shirt followed by a yellow T-shirt over that. He pulled on his winter coat, hat and gloves and walked back down stairs, putting his head in the kitchen door as he went. "Bye Mom, Bye Dad," he said, "I'll see you later." He pulled his winter boots and his spikes, opened the front door and went outside. The snow was falling lightly but steadily, and had collected into a thin blanket that mostly covered the patches of ice left over from the recent bout of freezing rain. He walked out to the end of his driveway, but instead of turning toward where Oakmont Street ran into Waterford Road, Zack turned the other way and walked up the street toward Watson Boulevard. The goal was to avoid running into Milo until after he reached the bakery and was on his way home with the cake.

The ride into downtown Danville took longer than usual, owing to the slippery road conditions, as a result, it took Zack at least half an hour to get downtown and he doubted that Milo would do much better, even if Murphy's Law didn't trip him up, and Zack figured that it was reasonably safe to assume that it would. The bus finally dropped him off at the corner of Watson Boulevard and 54th Street. He looked at his watch. He still had some time before Milo could be reasonably expected to show up at the bakery, which was located across the street. Just down the street on the other side was Danny's Music Store. Danny was the lead singer for Love Handle. Zack crossed at the crosswalk and walked down the street. He pushed open the door and went inside. Electric guitars hung on the walls and and drum kits occupied the open space in the centre of the floor.

"Oh, hey little dude," said Danny from behind the counter. He was a tall, thin man with a goatee, long hair and a bandana. "Looking for anything in particular?"

Zack cast a covetous eye over the over the racks of vintage Fenders and Gibsons. They started at $2,500 and escalated rapidly from there. He shook his head. "Not today, Danny," he said. "I'm just killing time waiting for a friend." He spent half an hour browsing through the store, ogling the guitars, making small with Danny and picking out guitar chords for some songs he wanted to learn. Zack glanced at his watch. He should check to see if Milo had shown up yet. He paid for his sheet music and went back outside. There was no sign of Milo. There was a Starbucks across the street from the bakery. Zack was about walk down and get a coffee. He could sit by the window out of the weather and wait for Milo. Zack was half way down the block when he hear a voice echoing across the street during a brief lull in the noise of the traffic.

"-You are personally responsible for at least nine, I repeat, nine safety violations in the last ten minutes."

Zack turned. On the other side of the street he saw a tall, lanky figure with an unkept mane of auburn hair in a bright orange safety vest waving a hand held stop sign and haranguing a slender, shorter figure in a winter coat with a heavy backpack slung over his slightly rounded shoulders. Zack put on his most convincing indignant best friend face, which wasn't very hard to do, and crossed the street, now devoid of traffic. "Oh, come on Elliot," said Zack as he reached the curb on the other side of the street, "you know full well that Milo doesn't mean to cause any of the stuff the happens around him."

Elliot turned to look down at Zack. "No excuses!" he said emphatically. "Milo is a menace to everyone around him." He waved a hand up and pointed up the street to where a large truck was half sticking out of a deep hole in the road. "Look at all the damage he caused."

Zack ignored Elliot's diatribe. "That's just Murphy's Law," he retorted, "Milo can't help it."

Elliot was about to open his mouth in reply when a muscular man with short brown hair and blue eyes walked up to three of them. Richard Chase looked down at Milo and Zack.

"Hi, Mr. Chase," Milo said.

Melissa's father, the Chief of the Danville Fire Department, sighed. "I should have guessed," he said, "OK, boys, what happened here?"

Zack suddenly felt a little self conscious. "Actually, I didn't see anything, Mr. Chase," he said. He was telling the truth, but he still felt as though he was pushing Milo under the bus. Milo's relationship with Richard was complicated by both Murphy's Law and Richard's position as Danville's Fire Chief. "I was on the other side of the street at Danny's looking at guitars."

Richard scribbled some notes on a note pad, then turned to Milo. "OK Milo," he said, "what happened?"

Milo spent the next twenty minutes talking more or less without stopping, while Richard wrote furiously.

When Milo was finally finished, Richard looked skeptically through his notes. "So, let me get this straight, Milo," he said, "you're saying that all of this," he waved a hand to indicate the chaotic scene behind him, which was now being cordoned off with caution tape, "was caused by a single gerbil?"

Milo nodded. "That's right Mr. Chase." He paused. "Is the driver going to be OK?"

Richard softened slightly, "the driver has a mild concussion," he said, "he'll need to stay in the hospital for observation for a couple of days, but he'll be fine." He quickly flipped through his notes again. "OK, Milo you can go."

Elliot looked as though someone had just cancelled his birthday. "But he caused nine safety-,"

Richard cut him off, "thanks Decker," he said, "don't go anywhere, I still need to take your statement."

"Bye Mr. Chase," said Milo.

"Good bye, Milo."


	17. Chapter 17

Zack and Milo watched as Richard turned back toward the mess that Murphy's Law had made of the intersection. As they watched Richard's retreating back, Elliot followed him, shouting, gesticulating wildly and pointing at Milo. They distinctly heard him utter the words, "public menace" and "threat to safety."

Zack put a friendly hand on Milo's shoulder. "Are you OK, Milo?" he asked.

Milo blinked and realized who was talking to him. "Oh, hi Zack," he said. "Just wait right here," he jerked his head at the bakery behind him. Its windows were full of delectable looking baked goods. "I was supposed to pick something up." He pushed open the door and went inside.

While Zack waited for Milo to come back, he pulled out his phone and fired off a quick text to Melissa and Amanda. "I have Milo. He's picking up the cake and we'll be heading back to his house shortly."

A second or two later Zack's phone pinged. He had received a return text from Melissa. "OK, see you soon." Zack turned his attention back to the bakery. The display in the window was mostly obscured by a thick, billowing cloud of flour. The door opened and Milo emerged. He was holding a large white cake box and he was covered from head to foot in a thin layer of flour. "Well, I guess now we know that Murphy's Law and fresh baked goods don't mix," Zack observed drily.

Milo opened his mouth, ostensibly to respond, but he immediately started to sneeze and Zack quickly thrust his hands under the large box, lest Milo drop it. He sneezed loudly and blew a cloud of flour into Zack's face. Zack looked like a ghost. "Milo, why don't I hold on to this," he said.

Milo nodded. "Good idea," he said, "you know before Murphy's Law hits."

The two boys turned away from the blocked intersection and started walking in the opposite direction. "Are you OK, Milo?" Zack asked again. "I saw you and Elliot and-," he trailed off.

Milo shrugged and settled his backpack higher on his shoulders. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said. Milo had always had a complicated relationship with Elliot Decker. Elliot was much older than Milo and was the volunteer crossing guard for Jefferson County Middle School. When he was six he had gone the circus with his family. The previous spring, Elliot had accidentally been handcuffed to Milo, who had quickly deduced that Elliot's animosity toward him was largely the result of Murphy's Law. Martin had taken Milo's then three year old sister, Sara, to the circus on the same day as Elliot. Martin's prescience had triggered a chain of events which had resulted in the collapse of the circus tent. Elliot had always believed he was responsible and as a result, he had repressed the memory of the the event and had developed a pathological obsession with safety in the process.

"I thought you and Elliot were getting along better, at least a little," said Zack as they reached the bus stop. "He seemed pretty happy with the job you did last year looking after his dog walking business."

Milo nodded. "So did I," he said, "I thought his line of safety gear might have helped him work out his issues." A few months prior, Milo, Zack and Melissa had decided to spend a day at a sky diving simulator. When the turbine's generators had inevitably malfunctioned in the prescience of Milo's negative probability field, the three of them had wound up in open free-fall. Fortunately, Milo had thought to pack several parachutes that he had bought from Elliot, which had probably saved their lives.

"Yeah, I remember those parachutes you bought from Elliot last year," he said.

Milo chuckled, "the Free-fall Incident is admittedly at little difficult to forget, even for me."

Zack and Milo arrived at the bus stop. There were several other people huddled under the bus shelter's heater trying to stay warm. The bus arrived twenty minutes late. Milo and Zack took turns holding the cake, while they both dug through their pockets for their transit passes. They swiped them and sat down. Zack balanced the cake box on his knees. The bus's engine rumbled and the bus pulled out of the bus stop. It took six blocks for Murphy's Law to hit. The bus shuddered to a stop with the crunch of metal and asphalt and slanted over sideways with a thud. Zack watched the bus's front right wheel go bouncing away down the street.

"I think we just lost a wheel," said Milo.

Zack nodded. "Looks like we need to find another bus." Milo and Zack got up and filed toward the bus's exit. Milo hopped off the bus and Zack followed him, carefully balancing the cake box in his hands and he stepped off of the bus and on the road. Car horns blared angrily from behind the stopped bus, which had plowed a ragged furrow in the road. They set off walking down the street, weaving in and out of the pedestrians going in the other direction. They eventually got back on the bus and made it most of the way from downtown Danville to Milo's subdivision before Murphy's Law struck again and the bus slid through the intersection and jumped the curb. As Milo's house was only twenty minutes away on foot and it had mostly stopped snowing, Zack and Milo decided to walk the rest of the way.

They arrived at Milo's front door fifteen minutes later. The door knob came off in Milo's hand, as usual. He pushed open the door and together with Zack, went inside. Right on cue, Diogee came hurtling out from around a corner, barking happily at the sound of his accident prone master and launched himself in Milo's arms, almost knocking him into Zack, who was still holding the cake. Zack stepped aside at the last second and Milo landed on his backside while Diogee happily licked his face with his long pink tongue. Milo chuckled. "Down boy," he said, laughing. He shrugged off his backpack, then took off his winter coat and boots, got to his feet and picked up his backpack. He looked around, frowning slightly. The house seemed unusually quite. Ordinarily, with Milo out of the house, and no Murphy's Law to interfere, Brigitte could often be found sitting at the kitchen table with a set of architectural plans and a cup of coffee. At the very least the sound of Diogee barking as Milo and his friends came through the door would have roused Martin and Sara from where ever they were in the house to see what the noise was about.

"Where is everybody?" asked Milo.

Zack walked into Milo's kitchen and deposited the cake on the kitchen counter. "Maybe they're in the living room?" Zack suggested.

Milo nodded. "Maybe," he said with a shrug. He walked past the kitchen table toward the door that led to the living room. Zack followed closely behind him. Milo opened the door and found Martin, Brigitte, Sara, Cavendish and Dakota, along Melissa, Amanda Chad and Mort. A banner hanging from the opposite wall read, "Milo Murphy, the best friend in the world." Milo looked around at his assembled friends and family, a look of slightly dumbstruck confusion on his face. "I-Zack, what is all this?" he asked.

Zack put an affectionate hand on Milo's shoulder. "Surprise," he said. "We've been planning this for two weeks."

"Really?" asked Milo.

Melissa nodded. "You can thank Zack," she said. "This was all his idea."

Milo turned to look at Zack, "you didn't have to-,"

Zack cut him off. "Yes I did," he said simply. "Melissa explained to me about how Murphy's Law gets into your head sometimes during the winter."

Milo nodded. "Yeah," he said, "Mom and Dad sent me to a therapist once and well-," he trailed off.

Amanda nodded. "Melissa told us about that," she said.

"It seems that I don't mix well with psycho-therapy," said Milo. He chuckled in spite of himself. "I made my therapist cry fifteen minutes into my first session."

"We know," continued Zack, "Milo, we've been through a lot together, from aliens to time travel to parallel realities to raccoons in the sewer-,"

"That was one raccoon, singular," interjected Milo.

"Milo," said Melissa, "the point is that despite Murphy's Law, you're always there for everyone else-,"

"-even people like Elliot," said Zack.

"Even people like Elliot," agreed Melissa.

"You've given us a pick-up when we've needed it," said Melissa, "and we'd be bad friends if we didn't do the same."

Milo looked Zack, Melissa and Amanda as if he didn't know what to say. "I-uhhhh-I really do have the three best friends in the world."

Zack pulled Milo into a bear hug. "So do we, buddy," he said, "so do we."

The get together lasted for the rest of the afternoon, and only finally ended When Cavendish and Dakota departed at 4:00 PM, leaving only Zack, Melissa and Amanda.

"Thanks again, guys," said Milo appreciatively.

Zack held up a hand. "No need to thank us Milo, " he said.

Melissa nodded in agreement, "yeah, you know the middle school code," she said.

Zack nodded. "yeah, no-one gets left behind."

Amanda looked as though she had suddenly remembered something. "Oh, Milo," she said.

"Yeah Amanda," replied Milo.

"I've been meaning to ask you if you'd be willing to help me plan the WIBAs this year," she said.

Milo looked a little a surprised. "Well, I'd love to Amanda, but I'd have thought that you'd want someone whose-,"

Amanda cut him off. "Milo, I'm not worried about Murphy's Law," she paused. The previous year, Murphy's Law had prevented Milo from appearing on stage to receive his WIBA Award for Greatest Perseverance. She paused. "Well, OK, maybe I am at least a little, but you did a very good job fixing the decorations at the school dance last year, so I've decided that I want you to help me plan the ceremony, no ifs, and or buts."

Milo still looked a little skeptical, "well, OK," he said at last.

Amanda nodded, "good," she said. "Meet me in the library after school on Monday."


	18. Chapter 18

Milo casually sauntered into the library as soon as school ended on Monday. Amanda was sitting at a table in the middle of the room, surrounded by a gaggle of other kids. She looked to Milo a bit like a general briefing her troops. "Bradley, I need you to organize the ballots."

Bradley nodded. "Sure, Amanda."

"Mort, you did a good job running the show last year," said Amanda, "I'd like you to do that again."

Mort nodded. "OK," he said.

The gaggle of kids turned at the sound of approaching footsteps. "Hey guys," said Milo with a wave.

"Oh, hi Milo," said Amanda. She waved to an empty seat directly across from her. "Have a seat."

"Thanks, Amanda," said Milo. He slipped off his backpack, pulled out his chair and sat down. Milo tucked his backpack under his knees.

Bradley shot Milo a scathing looking. "What is Milo doing here?" he asked skeptically.

"Bradley, I asked him to be here," replied Amanda, slightly annoyed.

"But the WIBAs are next month," protested Bradley, "and Milo will ruin everything, as usual. Last year, Milo couldn't even make on stage to accept his award," Bradley exclaimed.

"I remember," growled Amanda. "What's your point?" The previous winter, Milo had been nominated for a WIBA for Greatest Perseverance. Murphy's Law had struck as he has been about to enter the auditorium along with the rest of the nominees, however, and Milo had been accidentally locked out of the building as a result. He had been forced to climb in through a window and had been completely unable to escape from the basement until after the award show had finished.

"So, ummmm, Amanda," asked Milo, "what exactly did you want me to do?"

Amanda looked down at list of tasks in front of her. "Milo, I am going to put you I charge of counting all the ballots, tabulating the votes and drawing up the winners list."

Bradley looked as if he were going to have a fit, "but that's a really, really important job and you want Milo to-,"

Amanda nodded emphatically. "Yes, I do Bradley," she said. "Despite what you might think, Milo is usually really, really organized and he works really hard. It'll be fine."

Bradley continued to look deeply skeptical. "Well, alright," he said, "but I'm going definitely to say I told you so, when he screws everything up as usual."

The following Saturday, Milo stood in his driveway early in the morning with his backpack slung over his shoulders. As usual, he was dressed against the early morning chill In his heavy winter coat, boots, spikes, winter hat and thick gloves. The predawn darkness was broken by the sound of Cavendish and Dakota's beaten up van as it rumbled up the street and pulled into Milo's driveway, its engine grumbling in the darkness. Milo pulled open the side door and climbed in next to Phineas, Ferb, Zack, Melissa and Amanda. He sat down next to Phineas and tucked his backpack behind his knees. "Hi Phineas," said Milo with a stifled yawn. "How was Europa?"

"Morning Milo," replied the young savant excitedly. "Europa was fabulous. We're already talking about going back. We didn't find any direct signs of life, but we did find a liquid ocean and lots of organic compounds. You should come with us next time," continue Phineas. "You'd love it."

Milo was suddenly and unwillingly reminded of the last time he had gone into space. He had been abducted by aliens, who had wanted him to save their planet from an uncontrollable build up of Murphy's Law. Zack and Melissa had briefly thought that he had died. He pushed the thought away with some effort. "No thanks, Phineas," he said. "Murphy's Law and spaceflight don't really mix."

Phineas looked a little disappointed. "Well, OK," he said, "but you're always welcome, if you ever change your mind."

At the same moment, the van lurched into motion and backed out of Milo's driveway. "Morning Milo," said Dakota, with his usual energy, "breakfast?"

"Hi Dakota," said Milo. "Thanks." He took the usual bag of fast food from Slushy Dawg and tore into the two breakfast wraps. "So where are we going this time?"

"Out of town again," replied Cavendish.

"Really?" asked Melissa. "Again?"

Dakota nodded. "Yeah, the Bureau is sending us out the middle of nowhere again."

Cavendish continued. "It seems that someone has phoned in a tip."

"What kind of tip?" asked Milo.

"The Bureau thinks that someone has stumbled across another Shrinkatron," replied Dakota.

"You mean another one of those things that we ran into a few months ago?" asked Amanda. "Didn't you say those things are dangerous?"

Dakota chuckled mirthlessly, "Yeah, those things are dangerous," he said. "You can shrink the entire planet down to size of an atom if you're not careful-,"

"Plus the Bureau thought that all of them were accounted for," continued Cavendish.

"And there are aren't all that many of them to begin with," said Dakota, "as they're really are to make, well safely at any rate." He shrugged. "Its technically out of our jurisdiction, but we're the closest team, so we got the call."

The drive to the clean up site took the better part of an hour and a half. The site was located in a very remote corner of Danville Forest. By the time Cavendish turned off of the highway and on to the muddy dirt track, the sun was well above the horizon and peeking through scudding grey clouds. The van pulled to a stop at the edge of the field, Cavendish shut off the engine and everyone clambered out. Cavendish pulled open the van's rear doors and handed out coveralls, trash bags and picks. They collected their tools and set to work. High above the field, virtually invisible against the dull grey clouds, a drone hovered silently watching as the two former time agents and their charges set about cleaning up the so called alien garbage. The drone's in board computer received a data packet from the various sniffers and motion detectors that had been hidden in the forest on the edges of the clear. The drone focused its shifted its camera to a very minute degree and focused its electronic gaze on a slender figure wearing a backpack. It beamed the image down to the ground and received an immediate confirmation. The image was then beamed up to satellite, which then beamed it to a computer in a nondescript office building in downtown Danville.

An alert message flashed on Wolinsky's computer screen. _Negative probability field detected_. A file with a picture opened in a separate window.

Name: Murphy, Milo D

Address: 5521 Druid Drive, Danville, USA

Phone Number: 555-8231

Age: 14

Date of Birth: October 24, 2003

Height: 5'3"

Weight: 94 pounds

Blood type: O positive

Wolinsky turned and called over his shoulder. "Sir," he said.

Director Niblet turned at the sound of Wolinsky's voice. "What is it Major?" He walked over to where his subordinate was sitting in front of the computer. "We have eyes on the target."

Niblet nodded. "Good," he said approvingly, "alert the ground team."

Wolinsky nodded and picked up the radio on the desk in front of him. "Base to ground team," he said, "heads up. We have eyes on the target." He got two clicks on the radio in reply.

Milo had just deposited his third full bag of trash in the back of Cavendish and Dakota's van and returned to the field when it happened. He was standing in the middle of the field around mid-morning when he saw a silver coloured cube the size of a baseball. He waved Zack over to where he was standing. "Hey Zack," he said, "I found the Shrinkatron." He bent over and picked it up. As soon he did, it registered Milo's negative probability and several things happened at once,

A second alert flashed across Wolinsky's computer screen. He turned and addressed Director Niblet. "Sir, the target has taken the bait."

Niblet nodded. "Alert the ground team. Tell them to be ready to move."

Wolinsky nodded. "Yes, Sir." He picked up his radio. "Base to ground team, get ready to move. The target has the bait." Again, he got two clicks on the radio in reply.

Hidden in the undergrowth, Tennant watched as the target picked up the metallic silvery cube. He heard Wolinsky's voice in his earpiece, clicked his radio twice in reply and flashed a hand sign to the extraction team. _Stand by_. Somewhere off to his right, he heard the quiet whir of servos as a dart gun homed in on its targets, followed by the almost inaudible hiss of compressed gas as it began firing.

Milo was about four feet away from Zack when he felt something strike him in the upper arm. It was as if someone was jabbing him with a white hot needle. "Ow," he said. He rubbed the spot on his arm and his hand brushed against something hard and cylindrical. He pulled the hypodermic dart of his arm. Milo and Zack looked at each other in confusion. "What do you make of this, Zack?"

"Milo, are you OK?" asked Zack. As he said it, Milo swayed visibly.

"No, Zack, I-," Milo didn't get any farther than that, his words suddenly became slurred, as though his tongue was too big for his mouth. Everything was suddenly going foggy and Milo tried to speak again. "Zack, I don't feel-," he began. Milo tried to take a step and started to stumble. Zack lunged forward and just barely caught Milo in time before he hit the ground.

Zack thrust his hands under Milo's armpits and held him upright. Milo's eyes were mostly closed. "Milo, can you hear me?"asked Zack. Milo's face flickered a little at the sound of his name, but other than that he didn't respond. _Something's really wrong_, thought Zack. He quickly looked around and saw Dakota fifty feet away standing over something on the ground. Zack squinted and looked closer. He saw a mop of red hair and a purple winter coat. _Whatever's happening has happed to Melissa and Phineas as _well, he thought. He turned and thrust his arm across Milo's shoulders and pulled his unconscious friend onto his back. He staggered slightly under Milo's weight. Milo was slightly shorter than Zack, in addition to being thin and lightly built, but with his body armour and fully loaded backpack, Zack figured that Milo weighed close to a hundred and fifty pounds. He waved with his free hand, opened his mouth and started to shout, "hey, Dakota!" but before he could get words out, Dakota swayed drunkenly and collapsed, landing face down in the frozen dirt. Fighting down his rising panic, Zack started to run toward where the former time agent had fallen. He had taken perhaps five steps at most when he suddenly felt a white hot stabbing sensation in his chest, as though someone had stuck a white hot needle under his skin. Zack felt himself becoming drowsy. Everything was becoming foggy and his limbs felt heavy. He was dimly aware of his body pitching forward and of figures running out of the trees. The last thing Zack remembered for several hours was the ground rushing up to slap him in the face.


	19. Chapter 19

Episode Thirty-Two

When Zack came to his senses several hours later, it was to the sensation of being gently slapped back to consciousness by Dakota. "C'mon Zack," he said. Zack felt one of Dakota's big hands slapping his cheek. "Wake up." Zack was stiff and cold from lying on the frozen ground. He tried to sit up and everything swam. He felt nauseous and his head rang like a gong with a splitting headache. The closest comparison he could come up was being hit with an illegal tackle in a really rough football game, and he thought that that seemed tame by comparison. He slowly raised himself into a sitting position and took a deep breath. Zack could see data scrolling down the inside of Dakota's sunglasses. "You OK, Zack?" he asked.

Zack nodded. "Yeah, I think so." He looked around as though searching for something. He dimly recalled having had a very heavy weight on his back. He saw a large, dark green backpack lying on its side. Everything suddenly came back to him. _Milo's backpack_, he thought. He clambered stiffly to his feet. He wobbled slightly and took another deep breath. He walked over to where Milo's backpack was lying in the frozen dirt, picked it up and put his arms through the straps. He turned the former time agent. "Dakota-," he began.

"-where's Milo?" finished Dakota for him. "Don't know. Not here. Looks like he's been taken again. Do you remember what happened?"

Zack nodded. "Yeah," he said and then paused. It had all happened very quickly. "At least I think so. Milo practically collapsed in my arms." He paused again, try to remember. "He was shot with some kind of dart, and then I tried to carry him, and everything got hazy after that." He fell silent thinking hard, trying to remember anything else. "I think I saw people coming out of the bushes."

"Do you remember what they looked like?" asked Dakota.

Zack thought again and shook his head. "Sorry, Dakota," he said. "I tried to carry Milo, but I got shot with one of those darts almost immediately after he did. I don't really remember much after that."

"It's OK Zack," replied Dakota. "Don't beat yourself up. This is starting to sound like somebody set us up." He started walking. Zack shrugged Milo's backpack higher onto his shoulders and fell into step next to the former time agent.

"Is everyone else OK?" asked Zack.

Dakota nodded. "Yeah," he said. "They all woke up just before you did. Physically, everyone's fine, they're just a little shaken up."

Zack noticed that they were walking toward the edge of the field. "So what do we do now?" asked Zack.

Dakota shrugged. "We're not sure yet," he said. "Cavendish took Melissa, Amanda, Phineas and Ferb to look for any signs of Milo." He continued walking toward the tree line. Zack followed him.

As they approached, the tall, thin figure of Cavendish appeared striding toward them on his long legs. The three of them met just outside the tree line. Cavendish gave Zack a quick once over. "Its good to see you your feet," he said, "are you feeling alright, Zack?"

Zack nodded. "Yeah, Cavendish, I'm fine," he said. "I just want to find Milo."

Cavendish nodded in understanding. "Milo is as much my friend as he is yours," he said. "We will do everything thing in our power to find him." He started to turn and walk back into the trees. As he did, Cavendish turned and called over his shoulder, "Phineas has found something."

Zack and Dakota started walking again, following Cavendish deeper into the trees. He abruptly turned to the right and continued walking parallel to the trees. Zack and Dakota looked at each other. The teenager and the time agent both appeared to be thinking the same thing.

"Cavendish-," began Zack. They needed to be looking for Milo and he was starting to feel as thought they were wasting time.

"-where are we going?" finished Dakota.

Cavendish turned to look over his shoulder again and only narrowly avoided walking into a tree. "It's not far," he said, "we're almost there."

In the distance, beyond Cavendish, Zack spied Amanda, Melissa, Phineas and Ferb all clustered around something. The four of them had their heads together and they appeared to be talking in low voices. He sped up and thought he saw Phineas point to something and say, "look at this, Ferb."

Melissa must have heard them coming because she looked up and detached herself from the other three. She walked over to Zack who had stopped just short of Phineas, Ferb and Amanda. They appeared to examining a charred pile of electronics.

Zack looked back and forth from Melissa to the charred pile of equipment to Cavendish and Dakota. "So, what is this stuff?"

"Phineas thinks that this stuff was designed to detect probability fields," said Melissa. "He says that whoever built it knew exactly what they were doing."

Zack absorbed this information. "So how does that help us find out who took Milo?" he asked. As he spoke, Milo's backpack suddenly seemed very heavy, as if it had suddenly gained an extra twenty pounds. He gestured to the pile of equipment that was still being pored over by Phineas and Ferb. "Have they found anything yet?"

Melissa put a comforting hand on Zack's shoulder. "Zack, it's going to be OK," she said. "Milo's tough," her voice took on a determined note, "and we are going to get him back."

Zack took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "Yeah," he said, "you're right. Milo's disappeared before and he usually turns up just fine with a good story to tell." Even as he said it, Zack wondered if he was speaking as much for himself as for everyone else.

While Zack, Melissa, Cavendish and Dakota had been talking, Phineas and Ferb finished their examination and stood up, followed by Amanda. They walked over to join the others.

"So what have you found?" asked Cavendish.

The two stepbrothers traded a look and Phineas shrugged apologetically. "Not much unfortunately," said the young genius. He gestured at the pile of fried gear behind him. "Whoever built this knew what they were doing," he said. "There are no serial numbers on any of this stuff."

"OK," said Zack slowly, "what does that mean?"

"Whoever it was that took Milo was a pro-," replied Dakota.

"Yeah," continued Phineas, "and whoever did it had money too." The young savant gestured again over his shoulder. "Most of this is custom built to detect probability fields."

Melissa took a deep steadying breath, processing this information. A person or persons unknown expended significant time and resources to kidnap her closest friend. "Phineas," she asked quietly, "how many people would know how to do this?"

"Not very many," he said. "This would require really specific skill sets and-,"

"None of this is getting us anywhere," interjected Zack, "Phineas, did you learn _anything_ definite about the people who took Milo from this stuff."

"We think so," he said, "well, Ferb does, at any rate."

"Well, what is it?" asked Melissa.

"We think all of this came from Kreitech Industries,"

"How do you know that?" asked Amanda.

"Well, we don't," replied Phineas, "at least not for sure, but the fingerprints are pretty unmistakable, and if that's the case, then Ferb and I have a friend who might be able to help us."

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and quickly tapped through his contacts until he found the one that he wanted. "Hi, Isabella," he said, "I need you to refuel the jet. We're going to San Fransokyo."

When Milo initially came back to his senses he wasn't entire sure that he was actually awake at first. Everything was mostly in darkness and Milo blinked a couple of times, just to be sure that his eyes were working. They were. He tried to sit up and realized that he was strapped to the table on which he was lying. _Well that's not good_, he thought. He tried to move his arms and legs and found that he couldn't. There were restraints across his chest and abdomen as well upper arms, elbows and wrists. Milo's legs were pinned at the upper thigh, knees and only part of his body that he could move was his head. Milo raised himself up to the extent that his restraint allowed him to and tried to look around. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, Milo began to pick out a few details. The room was large and very dimly lit by faint green light coming from large tanks lining the edges of the room. From the few he could see out of the corner of his eye, Milo could make out indistinct figures in a few of them and a sudden sense of disquiet shivered through him. _That's not good either_, he thought. There were several work carts scattered around the room with laptops and other equipment on them.

Milo wracked his brain, trying to remember what had happened to him. He remembered pick up alien trash with Cavendish and Dakota for most of the morning. He had been working with Zack and they spent had most of the morning laughing, talking and trading inside jokes. Milo recalled being shot in the right arm with some kind of dart. Everything had become hazy after that. He dimly recalled that had nearly collapsed and that somebody had tried to carry him, Zack he assumed. He had blacked out after that and remembered almost nothing until he had woken up a few minutes ago. Milo had no idea how long he had been out for, but he guessed several hours at minimum. He wondered where he was. The opposite wall was dominated by a large computer screen with a screen saver in muted colours, an abstract logo and the words, "Sycorax Bionics," underneath it. Milo had no idea what that was supposed to mean and tried his bonds again. He was secured with soft Velcro straps. He doubted that Murphy's Law would have much of an effect on them, but then Murphy's Law was inherently unpredictable, so Milo figured that that didn't mean much. His thoughts were interrupted as an array of surgical lights flashed on overhead. Milo screwed up his eyes painfully as the room's light level suddenly changed.

The sound of footsteps echoed off of the concrete floor. A pair of gloved fingers gently pried open Milo's eyelids and shone a pen light in his eyes. With all the light flooding his retinas, it was hard for Milo to resolve the two figures bending over him, but he could tell that they were a man and a woman and they were both blond and good looking.

Presently, the woman spoke. "Hello, Milo," she said, "my name is Liv Amara."


	20. Chapter 20

The jet was almost ready by the time that Cavendish and Dakota's van pulled into Phineas' driveway. It sat on a large catapult, pointing almost straight up into the late afternoon sky. Its wingtips stuck out over the fence into the neighbour's yard on either side by a couple of feet. Cavendish pulled the key out of the ignition and the engine died. They piled out of the van and proceeded as one body through the house and into the backyard.

"Boys-," began Lawrence in surprise.

"Oh, hi Dad," said Phineas breezily as he hurried by, "we'll probably be late for dinner."

They emerged from the house into the backyard which lay mostly in shadow under the broad swept back wings of the jet. Candace was waiting for him, tapping her foot. "Phineas," she said. She gestured dramatically at the sleek aircraft filling the backyard. "What is this-,"

Phineas pushed past his sister without stopping. "Sorry, Candace," he said with a wave, "perhaps next time." He turned and called over his shoulder. "Oh, and you should get in the house, otherwise you'll get cooked in the jet blast." He walked over to a corner of the yard where Baljeet was unwinding a thick cable from the jet's ground cart. "Baljeet," he said, grabbing the heavy cable and dragging it across the yard. "How are we looking?"

"We are almost ready," said the diminutive Indian boy, Baljeet was even younger than Phineas, "but I must caution against-,"

Phineas climbed up a ladder and partially disappeared, so that only his feet and legs were visible. "Sorry, Baljeet," he said. He was mostly hidden by the jet's wing and his voice was slightly muffled as a result, "There's no time for a test flight. Milo's gone missing again-,"

"Why didn't you say so,"exclaimed Baljeet in his high pitched, sing song voice and waving his arms, "I will write a negative probability tracking algorithm."

"Thanks, Baljeet," said Phineas, plugging the cable in his hands into an exterior power socket. "In the mean time the rest of us are going to San Fransokyo."

Baljeet turned his attention back to the ground cart. He flipped up the clear plastic cover on the primer switch and flipped it. "Phineas, we are ready to start the jet's internal systems."

"OK," said Phineas. He gestured to Ferb, Zack, Melissa, Amanda, Cavendish and Dakota who had all gathered at the base of the catapult on which the jet was poised pointing at the late afternoon sky. "We're almost ready to leave," he said. "Ferb, lets get into the cockpit and start our pre-flight check." He scrambled nimbly up a second ladder and disappeared into a hatch. The others followed him. The jet's interior was spartan. Exposed wiring and hydraulic lines snaked everywhere. Phineas and Ferb hauled themselves into the pilots seats with a system straps and footholds. They put on their headsets and began running through their pre-flight checklist. They skipped every step they thought that they could safely omit. Behind them, Phineas and Ferb could hear the others pulling themselves into their seats and buckling their restraints. The two stepbrothers each put a hand on the throttle. With his other hand, Phineas flipped up a plastic cover and touched his thumb to the red button underneath, but didn't press it. Sitting in the co-pilot's seat, Ferb did the same. "Ready?" asked Phineas.

Ferb nodded.

"On the count of three," said Phineas. His right hand tightened on the throttle.

One.

Two.

Three.

Phineas and Ferb pushed the throttle all the way forward and pushed the button under his thumb. On the other side of the cockpit, Ferb did the same. The high pitched whine of the turbofans spooling up was suddenly drowned out by the deep bass roar of four JATO rockets suddenly igniting. In the seat behind Phineas, Zack suddenly as if something heavy was sitting on his chest and fervently hoped that the jet would hold together. The rational part of his mind told him that Phineas and Ferb knew what they were doing, but he thought it anyway. Out of the corner of his eye, the ground fell away as the jet began to move. It accelerated from a standing start to several hundred miles an hour within a very short distance. As they accelerated Zack's point of view widened from his obscured view of Phineas and Ferb's backyard to their entire neighbourhood and to Milo's as well. The jet heeled over hard at six thousand feet, while still climbing and for a brief moment Zack was able to see all of downtown Danville spread out below him like a large map. They were still accelerating and Danville slid out of sight almost immediately. They continued climbing until they levelled off at seventy thousand feet. Then Phineas hit the scramjets and broke the sound barrier for the straight shot flight to San Fransokyo.

"Who are you?" asked Milo, "and what am I doing here?"

Liv Amara put put away her pen light. "My name is Liv Amara," said Amara again. "I am the CEO of Sycorax Bionics. We want your help, and in return, we might be able to able help you."

"What do you want from me?" asked Milo slowly. _This feels like the Octalians all over again_, he thought wearily.

"We're conducting advanced life extension research," she explained. "We heard about through our sources in Danville and we thought that we might be able to help each other."

"So rather than just saying, 'Hi Milo, we'd like you to participate in our experiment,' you just knocked me out and kidnapped me?" asked Milo sarcastically, "And what about my friends?" he continued, "I'm pretty sure they didn't just let you take me."

"We're not interested in your friends," replied Amara, "but we didn't really given them a choice either."

"What did you do to them?"demanded Milo.

"Not much," said the man. "We tranquillized them at the same time we tranquilizer you."

Amara continued. "They should have woken up a couple of hours ago none the worse for wear-,"

"-And wondering where I am," countered Milo defiantly. "I have the best friends in the world. Zack, Melissa and Amanda will be looking for me." _And they have Phineas and Ferb with them_, thought Milo, _those two will likely cook something up all on their own._

"But they don't know where you are," said the man. "Be reasonable, Milo, the best way for you to help yourself is to co-operate."

"Chris is right," replied Amara. She input a command into her tablet and Milo was bathed in a ghostly blue light. At the same moment, the large high resolution computer screen on the wall opposite Milo flickered to life. Milo saw a slightly abstracted image of himself displayed on the screen. As Milo watched, it slowly dissolved through his body, peeling back the layers like the layers of an onion, starting with his clothes, then his skin, musculature, nervous system and internal organs, stopping only when it had digitally stripped him down level of his skeleton. He could see every fracture and broken bone he had ever had in his life. Amara input a second command into her tablet and medical data began to scroll down one side of the screen. "Milo, according to these scans, you have broken a total of twenty-eight bones." She paused letting that sink in.

Milo's face was a mask, but inwardly he was surprised. Living with Murphy's Law meant that he was more inclined than the average person to have accidents and mishaps and yes he had broken more than a few bones, but twenty-eight? He suddenly felt as though she was trying to manipulate him and suddenly felt as though something was telling him to be cautious.

"You don't have to live like this," Amara after a while. "We have the resources to help you," she continued. "We could run some tests, sequence your DNA and-,"

Milo didn't let her finish. "You may think you're trying to help me," he said, "but you're not. My best friend used to think like that." Milo had briefly gone missing the previous autumn as a result of run-in with Cavendish and Dakota, and a pair of rival time agents, Brick and Savannah. He had ended up in the late 22nd Century as a incident had sealed his friendship with Cavendish and Dakota as a result. In the process looking for him, Melissa had revealed to Zack and Sara that she had collected a large amount of information on Milo and Murphy's Law, including a number of very intimate personal items, including two years worth of his used toothbrushes. Exactly how she had gotten them, Milo had immediately decided that he didn't really want to know, but he had appreciated both her desire to want to help him and her eventual realization that what she had wanted for him wasn't the kind of life that he envisioned for himself. "Fortunately, she knows me a lot better that you do." Milo emphatically shook his head. "I am not helping you," he said. "You drugged me, and all of my friends, then kidnapped me, and you expect me to participate in some weird experiment?" Milo forced himself to take deep, steadying breath before he continued. "That is just really, really rude."

Liv Amara looked impassively at the hapless and imprisoned teenager. "I had hoped that you would be willing to co-operate, Milo," she said, "given what we can potentially offer you in return, but if you don't want we can give you-,"

"-I don't," replied Milo flatly.

Amara nodded. "Very well." She turned to Chris. "Let's prep."

The jet touched down in a flurry of heat and noise, its engines spooling down with a high pitched whine. Zack woke up with a slight start as the jet touched down with a slight bump and settled on to its landing gear. In the cockpit, Phineas and Ferb were unbuckling their safety harnesses and running through their post-flight checklists. Zack rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked out the window. He had fallen asleep somewhere over the Midwest. The view out of the window was unfamiliar. They appeared to have landed on somebody's private helipad.

Cavendish and Dakota both appeared to have been thinking the same thing. "Phineas-," Cavendish began.

"-Where are we exactly?" Dakota finished for him.

Phineas finished his post-flight checklist, took off his headset and got out of his pilot's seat. He shifted his weight back and forth from one foot to the other, restoring the circulation in his legs. The flight had left him feeling a bit wobbly. "Welcome to San Fransokyo," he said.

Zack looked out the window again. The helipad was surrounded by neatly manicured grounds dotted with mature trees. Beyond that was a high wall. Beyond that distant skyscrapers pulsed with green and orange and purple neon lights. The neatly manicured grounds reminded Zack a little of McDuck Manor and he wondered who lived here. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Ferb pulling a lever, the plane's outer door opening and a metal staircase unfolded with a metallic rattle. They filed down the stairs and out on the grounds. They stood for a minute or two looking around.

"So what happens now?" asked Amanda.

Phineas frowned. "I'm not sure," he admitted. He had briefly talked to Hiro to give him a heads up that something was brewing and to send him some 3D scans of some of the equipment that they had studied. Hiro had promised him that somebody would be there to meet them when they landed, but there was nobody in sight.

"Maybe we landed in the wrong spot?" Zack wondered out loud. He heard it as he said and doubted that Phineas and Ferb would make such a basic mistake, but he looked around at the immaculate grounds and the large house which lay at the end of a long path lined with flagstones that led from the helipad, and felt at least a little as if he was trespassing.

Phineas had opened his mouth, about to speak when they heard a shout. They all turned and saw a thin, lanky looking figure with shoulder length dirty blond hair striding down up the path from the house. Next to him came a broad shouldered man with a dark complexion, close cropped dreadlocks, a yellow bandana and a green sweater. "Phineas," said the tall, lanky man, excitedly, "Ferb. What's up little, dudes?"

"Oh, hi Fred," said Phineas. "I thought that Hiro was going to meet us here."

"Hey guys," said the dark skinned man with a casual wave, "yeah, he wanted to but he's not done looking over the data you sent him." He paused. "He didn't like the idea of Alistair Krei being involved in a kidnapping. He interns for Krei, you know. What exactly is going anyway?"

Phineas was about to answer when his phone rang. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. His caller ID said "Baljeet Tjinder." He answered the call and Baljeet appeared on his screen. "Hi, Baljeet," he said.

"Phineas, I have written a negative probability tracking algorithm," said Baljeet.

"Can you tell us where Milo is?" asked Melissa.

"Unfortunately, I can not," replied Baljeet, shaking his head. "I can only determine that he is somewhere in San Fransokyo."

"OK, thanks, Baljeet," said Phineas. He tapped his screen and hung up.


	21. Chapter 21

Episode Thirty-Four

Zack, Melissa and Amanda all looked at each other. "Well, at least we know he's here, somewhere," said Zack with a note of cautious hope in his voice. He looked around, as if he expected Milo to magically jump out of the bushes.

"Yeah, but San Fransokyo is a big city," countered Melissa, "a lot bigger than Danville, so where do we start?"

"Well, this _is _Milo we're talking about," replied Zack, "so…..," he trailed off, waiting for Melissa and Amanda to catch his meaning.

Amanda caught on first. "Of course," she said.

"Milo's usual trail of chaos," finished Melissa.

"OK." The deliberations of Zack, Melissa and Amanda were interrupted. The three of them turned as one at the sound. It was the tall man with dreadlocks who had spoken. "What exactly does, 'Milo's usual trail of chaos' mean?" He looked at Phineas and Ferb again. "Phineas what exactly is going on here?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Wasabi," replied Phineas. He quickly made the introductions.

"We're looking for a friend," explained Melissa. "We think he's around here somewhere, but we don't know exactly where."

"We were all drugged," explained Dakota.

"And when we woke up," continued Zack, "Milo was gone."

"And what makes you think he's here?" asked Wasabi.

"You mean _here_?" asked Melissa, indicating their immediate surroundings. "He's not," she said.

"And how do you know that?" asked Wasabi. "You only just got here."

"Well, for a start," said Melissa, "your house is still standing."

For a moment, Fred and Wasabi looked at each other. "What is _that_ supposed to mean?" asked Wasabi. A very fastidious and slightly neurotic man, Wasabi looked slightly alarmed.

Fred, on the other hand, looked excited. "Oooooh!" he said, rubbing his hands together, "mysterious strangers? Cryptic threats? This is just like Captain Fancy issue #242 where-,"

Wasabi sighed, "no Fred," he said. As the son of a superhero and an obsessive comic book fan, Fred tended to relate everything back to comic books, but on the other hand, Fred had a way of reading a situation that Hiro, Wasabi, Honey Lemon and Go Go didn't and while he wasn't right all the time, he wasn't always wrong either. "This is not like Captain Fancy #242."

Milo's friends all eyed each other, wondering what to tell Fred and Wasabi. "Milo is-," began Zack slowly.

"-special," continued Melissa, and she quickly explained about Murphy's Law and Milo's negative probability field.

Wasabi stared skeptically at them when Zack and Melissa had finished speaking ten minutes later. "OK," he said slowly, processing Zack and Melissa's information, "that's not supposed to be possible."

Zack and Melissa traded another look. Wasabi's reaction wasn't unexpected. They frequently encountered people who didn't believe that Milo's negative probability field actually existed. More than once Milo had been accused of intentionally creating the trail of chaos that he often left in his wake because he was seeking attention, or to make himself look good. Milo tended to simply ignore such slights when they were thrown at him, but having been Milo's only friend for over seven years, sometimes Melissa felt that it was her right to act indignantly on his behalf. She was about to open her her mouth, but Zack beat her to it.

"We don't have time to stand around talking," he said, his voice edged with impatience, "Milo is missing, and we have no idea where he is." He suddenly realized that everyone was looking at him and he felt slightly awkward. He took a deep steadying breath and felt Melissa's hand on his shoulder. He was suddenly glad it was there. He looked around. "I'm sorry," he said. "I just-," he eyed Wasabi and Fred, "look," he said levelly, "my best friend is missing. Can you help us or not."

There were several seconds of silence, during which Zack felt as though Wasabi was appraising him. Finally the broad shouldered man spoke. "Yeah, sure," he said. "We'll take my car." Wasabi turned and walked back toward the sprawling mansion in the middle of the perfectly manicured grounds. The others followed him down the path from the helipad where the jet sat on its landing gear and towards the large, sprawling mansion. They crossed the flagstone terrace, which was dotted with patio furniture. They crossed from the terrace into the house through an ornate set of French double doors and were met just inside by a man in a butler's uniform. He was almost as tall as Cavendish. He was mostly bald and had a pencil thin moustache. His face seemed to have been carved into a permanently bored expression. A large tray with a glass of ice, a large bottle of lime Pep and a dish under a polished silver cover were balanced deftly on his right hand. His left was tucked neatly behind his back. "Good afternoon Master Fredrick," he said to Fred. The permanently bored look on his face extended to his voice. "Your nachos for your gaming session are ready."

For a second Fred looked torn, as if he were being forced to make a difficult decision. Wasabi seemed to read his mind because Zack thought he heard him say in a low voice, "nachos later, Fred."

Fred seemed to collect himself. It looked difficult. "Right," he said, "thanks, Heathcliff, but keep those warm for me. _Spirit Samurai IV _will have to wait."

"Very good sir," replied Heathcliff, and he turned smoothly on his heel, still balancing the tray and disappeared through a side door.

Fred and Wasabi kept walking and Milo's friends followed them. The late afternoon sun cast long shafts of light through the tall windows and left everything in a dappled mix of light and shadow. The floor was covered with a thick carpet which muffled their footsteps. Paintings hung on the walls and the corridor was lined with little tables bearing family photographs dotted the edges of the hallway. They soon came out of a side door, crossed a large tiled entry hall and exited outside through a pair of double doors. Wasabi's car was sitting on a large circular driveway at the bottom of a flight of wide stone steps. They piled into Wasabi's car, Zack was never quite able to remember exactly how, and drove off down the long, winding driveway toward the front gate.

The drive from the Fredrickson compound through downtown San Fransokyo took half an hour. The downtown core was dominated by sleek looking, high tech skyscrapers that pulsed with red and orange and purple LEDs. At street level store front signs were brightly traced out in green and blue neon. A broad arch spanned the main thoroughfare sporting a holographic sign that proclaimed "Welcome to Night Market Square."

Wasabi turned off of the main road and on to another long winding drove under a sign that read "San Fransokyo Institute of Technology" and eventually pulled up in front of a collection of stark white buildings which had a slightly abstract air about them. A large sign lit by LED floodlights on the broad expanse of perfectly manicured green lawn read "SFIT Ito Ishioka Robotics Laboratory." Wasabi pulled into a parking space and they all piled out.

Cavendish got out and stretched unsteadily. Phineas and Ferb had been sitting on his lap and their combined weight had put his legs to sleep. Phineas was looking around avidly and even Ferb, who was normally almost unreadable, looked impressed.

Zack looked confused. "Wait, I don't understand," he said, "how is this going to help us find Milo?"

"Yeah, I've read a little a bit about SFIT's robotics program," said Dakota, "it's supposed to be world class."

"Oh yes," said Cavendish excitedly. He looked at Phineas and Ferb. "Your friend is an SFIT student?" he asked.

Phineas nodded. "Yeah, this a pretty hard program to get into and Hiro's pretty smart-,"

"-If anyone can help us locate Milo," said Ferb suddenly, making everyone jump slightly, "Hiro can."

Wasabi nodded, "yeah, Hiro has a knack for this sort of thing," he said. He started walking toward the Administration Building. The others followed him. "Let's go up to his lab and I'll introduce you." They walked up the main entrance. The doors opened with a nearly silent swish. They entered in a large central atrium. Clusters of tables dotted the large space amid stands of leafy green plants. The low hum of voices filled the background as students laughed and chattered with each other over their homework or an early dinner. Robots scurried among the tables, clearing away trays of half eaten food. They crossed the atrium and stopped in front of a bank of elevators. Wasabi pressed his thumb to a biometric scanner, which beeped in confirmation and the elevator doors slid silently open. They piled in and a flat electronic voice said, "please state your destination."

"Eighth floor," replied Wasabi.

A tone sounded and the elevator's voice said, "Thank you. Destination confirmed. Please stand clear of the doors." The doors slid closed and the elevator slid smoothly upwards. Another tone sounded a few minutes later and the elevator doors opened. The elevator's voice said, "You have arrived at your destination. Please mind the doors as you exit the elevator." They stepped out of the elevator into a wide hallway. Frosted glass doors marched away down the corridor on both sides and in both directions. "C'mon," said Wasabi, "Hiro's lab is down this way." He turned left and walked down the corridor, coming to a stop in front an opaque glass door. A plaque next to the door had a list of names printed on it. At the top was, "H Hamada, artificial intelligence, robotics, cybernetic systems." Wasabi pressed his thumb to the biometric scanner next to the door. It beeped in confirmation and the door unlocked with a quiet metallic click. He pushed open the door and they went inside.

They found themselves in a large, brightly lit work space. The room was dominated by an open area cleared of obstructions. Along one wall stood a series of 3D printers of various sizes. Opposite the door they had entered were several doors that led to a series of private workspaces. On the wall opposite the wall with the 3D printers was a large open alcove with a series of work benches bearing a mix of Bunsen burners, chemical analyzers, centrifuges and computers. Dotted here and there around the room tucked into available spaces were racks of tools, laptop carts and equipment lockers. A door opened and a boy who appeared to be around Milo's age emerged. He was momentarily backlit by the glow of a computer screen. He was thin and slightly wiry looking with an unruly mop of black hair. He was dressed in a blue zip-up hoodie, a faded _Spirit Samurai II_ T-shirt, knee length Capri shorts and battered looking running shoes. He stepped out of the door and a large white robot trundled through it after him on short, stubby legs accompanied by the quiet whine of servomotors. The robot was followed in turn by a tall, willowy looking woman with reddish blond hair that fell down to her shoulders and a short woman with an athletic build and a head of short, spiky black hair.

Hiro Hamada took in Fred, Wasabi and Milo's friends standing in the middle room. His gaze finally settled on Phineas and Ferb. "Hi, Phineas," he said. Hiro walked across the room and shook the younger boy's hand. "So what brings you out to San Fransokyo?"


	22. Chapter 22

"Oh hi, Hiro," said Phineas, shaking Hiro's hand. Phineas quickly made the introductions. Hiro eyed Milo's friends again. "So what brings you to San Fransokyo," he asked again. "Your message was a little cryptic."

Phineas shrugged. "Sorry about that," he said. "There wasn't time for a more in depth message."

Hiro nodded. As the leader of Big Hero 6, he was used to working in the dark. "Let's step into my office and we can talk." Hiro turned and opened the door. They followed him into his office. The wall opposite the door was dominated by a large round window. One wall was dominated by several bookcases that reached from the floor almost to the ceiling. They appeared to sag under the weight of a large collection technical manuals and heavy text books, on subjects ranging from biochemistry and genetics to nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, quantum physics and cybernetics. The opposite wall was dominated by a desk bearing a keyboard, a wireless mouse and a pair of high definition monitors. Tools and sundry other objects were scattered here and there around the room.

Hiro pulled his chair out, sat down at his computer and typed something into his keyboard. The twin monitors that occupied most of the space on his desk glowed to life, displaying an assortment of graphs and images. He swept them aside with a gesture, then clicked, tapped and swiped his way through several menus until he found the file folder that he wanted. He opened it and another assortment of graphs and images, including a picture of Milo, and various scans of the equipment that had been used to incapacitate and kidnap Milo spread themselves across Hiro's computer screens. He turned to face Milo's friends. "Well, this is definitely from Kreitech," he said.

The woman with the short, spiky hair cut nodded. "Yeah," said Go Go, "the striations in the microchip's substrate area a dead give away."

Hiro nodded in agreement and looked again Phineas and Ferb. "I agree," he said. "But I can't believe that Alastair Krei would participate in the kidnapping of a teenager."

"I told you so," interjected Wasabi.

Hiro shot a curious glance at Zack, Melissa and Amanda. "Why's your friend so special?"

Zack, Melissa and Amanda all glanced at each other, as though having a silent conversation. Everyone was slightly surprised when Cavendish broke the silence. "Milo is indeed a very special young man," he said.

"OK," said Go Go slowly, "what makes Milo special?"

"Murphy's Law," said Amanda simply.

"Murphy's Law," intoned Baymax calmly, "Is the axiom that anything that can go wrong-"

"-will go wrong," finished Melissa.

"With Milo, it's not just an axiom,"said Zack. "Its literally how he lives his life."

"That statement is illogical," replied Baymax in soothing tones. "Murphy's Law is not a physical phenomenon."

"Cavendish and I didn't believe it either at first," replied Dakota.

Cavendish nodded in agreement. "Yes," he said, "we initially thought that Milo was some sort of counter agent. We thought he was sent to foil our mission."

Dakota continued. "We noticed that weird stuff happens around Milo," he said, "and we thought that Milo was setting us up." As Dakota spoke, he suddenly remembered a thin, slightly round shouldered kid, his spine bent under the weight of a heavy backpack, trying to buy a bag of pistachios. Cavendish and Dakota had been tasked by the Bureau of Time Travel with protecting pistachio plants in and around Danville. Their supervisor, Mr. Block had been fond of pistachios, which had become extinct sometime in the late 21st Century for reasons that were not fully understood. As a result, Mr. Block had tasked them with the mission of protecting all the pistachio plants in Danville. Milo's proximity to their pistachio cart had caused the broiler to overheat and their pistachio cart had exploded as a result.

Cavendish and Dakota had crossed paths with Milo, Zack and Melissa several more times over the next few months and his knack for dealing with the unexpected had proven useful when the Pistachions had tried to take over the future.

While Cavendish, Dakota, Zack and Melissa had been talking, Hiro, Go Go, Fred, Honey Lemon and Wasabi had been trading looks with each other, as if having a silent conversation. Baymax stood in a corner watching all of them impassively. Zack was getting fidgety again. _This is taking too long_, he thought slightly irritably. _We should be out looking for Milo_. He took a deep, steadying breath and he felt Melissa put a calming hand on his shoulder.

At the same moment, Baymax said, "your elevated heart rate suggests that you are under stress. Would you like a hug?"

For a second Zack looked confused. "No," he said, "I-why would he-,"

Hiro shrugged. "Baymax was designed to be a personal healthcare companion," he explained. "He does other stuff as well, but this is part of his basic programming." He paused. "I understand how you feel," he said. "A friend of mine went missing today as well."

Zack, Melissa and Amanda all looked at each other. Zack suddenly felt slightly awkward.

"What happened?" asked Phineas.

"Her name is Karmi," replied Hiro, "and we're not entire sure what happened to her."

"She interns for Liv Amara-," explained Honey Lemon.

"Really?" asked Phineas, "isn't she-"

"-the CEO of Sycorax Bionics," finished Hiro. He suddenly looked thoughtful. "There's something about all of this that feels off," he said to the room at large. Over the past several months there had been a number of incidents in San Fransokyo during which Big Hero 6 had been confronted by a number of adversaries with increasingly dangerous abilities. They had never been able to prove it, but Hiro had always suspected that Sycorax was involved in some fashion, and now Phineas and Ferb had shown up in his lab asking him to help them find a friend. He decided to play a hunch. "Help me understand something," he said to Zack, Melissa and Amanda, "how does Milo cause all the negative events that happen around him?"

"That's easy," replied Melissa, "he was born this way."

Hiro, Fred, Wasabi, Honey Lemon and Go Go all traded sceptical looks. "Wait, so you're basically saying that Milo was born unlucky?" asked Hiro.

"That is not possible," interjected Baymax in calm tones. "There is no known genetic condition that can cause a person to be unlucky."

"Milo was," replied Amanda and Phineas pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"Ferb and I ran some tests," said Phineas, tapping and swiping through various menus on his screen, "and we found that a field of negative probability radiates directly outward from his DNA. It interacts with all energy fields and physical objects within a two hundred metre radius of Milo."

"It automatically skews all outcomes around Milo toward negative outcomes," continued Zack.

"And this isn't the first time that Milo has been targeted," cut in Dakota. "We need to find him."

As Hiro, Amanda, Zack and Dakota had been talking Hiro's computer chimed and Baymax said, "Hiro, you are receiving an e-mail from Flynn, Phineas." Hiro turned back to his computer and opened the e-mail that Phineas had sent him. Various video clips, pictures, graphs and scans spreads spread themselves across his computer screen. _A kid who causes utter chaos everywhere he goes just by showing up_, thought Hiro, out loud he said, "this definitely sounds like Sycorax, OK, we'll help you." He opened a second file and lines of computer code and complex mathematical formulas began scrolling down his other monitor. "You wrote a tracking algorithm?" he asked.

"Actually, Baljeet did,"replied Phineas.

_That answers that question_, thought Hiro. He had wondered why Phineas had thought to fly Milo's friends all the way across the country in the first place. He studied the cascading waterfall of computer code and complex math scrolling down the screen. "Hmmmm," he said to himself as he examined the waterfall of data scrolling down his screen. "This isn't bad," he said, "but it's a little rough." Hiro input a string of commands. His computer chimed again and something flashed on his screen. "Yeah, this is a lot better." He turned to others, who had been watching him work. "Baljeet did a pretty good job," he sad to Phineas, "but I've made a couple of adjustments to his program that will improve the accuracy of his program."

"By how much?" asked Zack.

"By around 75%," replied Hiro.

"And what does that mean?" asked Amanda.

"Instead of being able to pinpoint his location to with five miles," replied Hiro, "we'll be able to pin down Milo's location to with ten blocks."

He pushed a button on his keyboard and brought up a graphic. "Milo acts a bit like an inside out magnet. His negative probability field radiates outward from his DNA and pushes all the negative probability ions in his vicinity away from him-,"

"Skewing everything around Milo toward negative results," finished Go Go.

"This is going to take awhile to compile," said Hiro, "so we may as well go get something to eat."


	23. Chapter 23

Episode Thirty Six

The first thing that Milo noticed when he regained consciousness was that he was no longer physically restrained. He was lying on a metal cot with a thin blanket and a mattress. Milo tried to sit up. Everything swam and he was forced to lie back down. There was bitter taste in his mouth and he was suddenly aware of a sharp pain in his neck just below his right ear. He touched the spot and winced. It was very tender. He felt what seemed to be a square piece of metal under the still tender sutures. He suddenly felt a thrill of disquiet. Milo's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of somebody talking to him.

"Are you OK?"

Milo tried to sit up again, this time much more slowly. Everything swam again, but not as badly. He swallowed several times. His mouth was very dry, as though it were full of cotton balls. He stood up very slowly. Milo's legs were slightly wobbly. He looked around to see who had spoken. He saw that he was still confined Thick metal bars blocked the entrance to his holding cell. _Well, this is a problem,_ thought Milo and he wondered why Murphy's Law hadn't hit yet.

"Are you OK?" Milo turned. There was a girl in the cell across from his. She was the one who had spoken to him. She was wearing a white lab coat over a cream coloured blouse and an orange skirt that came down almost to her knees. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a pony tail.

Milo's hand immediately went to his shoulder, thinking of the googles and cutting torch in his backpack, then he stopped. He suddenly remembered that his backpack was missing. He hoped Zack, Melissa and Amanda had it. "Are you OK?" asked the girl again.

Milo nodded. "I-uhhhh-I think so," he replied. As far as Milo could tell they hadn't done anything else to him. He absently rubbed his hand over the scar on his neck. As he did he noticed that the girl had a bandage on her neck in the same spot as he did. "Do you know what this is?" He asked.

The girl's face suddenly adopted a pained look. "It's a biochip," she replied. "I designed it to control the parasynths."

"To do what?"asked Milo. He suddenly had a feeling that he was going to need Phineas and Ferb before this was all over. "I'm Milo Murphy, by the way."

The girl looked momentarily surprised, as if no one had ever asked her that before. "My name is Karmi Yashida," she replied, "and the parasynths were designed as key part of Sycorax' life extension research. They're designed to repair genetic defects and slow the aging process."

Milo felt his sense of disquiet return. _Those parasynth things are in my DNA?! _he thought, _that can't possibly be good. _"And what does the biochip do?" he asked, half wondering if he really wanted to know the answer.

"The biochip is supposed control the parasynths," said Karmi. She paused, "the only problem is none of it works properly."

Milo spent several seconds absorbing this information. The thought that Liv Amara was actively trying to manipulate his DNA in this manner, fully knowing what who and what he was, made Milo's skin crawl. Milo's thoughts must have registered on his face because he suddenly heard Karmi ask, "Milo, what's wrong?"

For a second or two, Milo was unsure of how to answer her. "Manipulating my DNA isn't a good a idea," he said at last, "it could have consequences."

Karmi looked confused. "I don't understand," she said at last,

Milo chuckled. "No, I guess you wouldn't, would you," he replied. "I was born with a condition called Extreme Hereditary Murphy's Law," he explained. "Anything that can go wrong around me will."

Karmi looked sceptical, "wait, you were born unlucky?" she asked.

Milo nodded. "It runs in my family," he replied. "Dad has it too. So does my grandfather, my uncle and two of my cousins."

Karmi continued to looked sceptical. "Bad luck as an inherited disorder?" she said, more to herself than to Milo, "that's not possible."

Milo shrugged. "It's possible," he looked around and as he did, he finally put a finger on a nagging thought that had been in the back of his mind. "In fact, I'm surprised that Murphy's Law hasn't hit yet."

"So you're saying you can predict Murphy's Law, as well?" asked Karmi.

Milo laughed. "No," he said, "that would make my life a lot simpler, but still I would have expected that my negative probability field would have caused something to happen by now."

As he spoke something clicked in Karmi's memory. "Oh," she said, "actually I overheard Liv and Chris talking last week about-," she paused, wracking her memory for the details of the conversation, "about the positive probability wave generator."

"Well, that would explain that," he said. He flexed his hands subconsciously, remembering the effects of the Murphy's Lawinator had had on him last year. The symptoms had started with numbness in his left pinky finger. "I don't suppose you actually saw it?"

Karmi shook her head. "Sorry," she said. "Waveform physics isn't my field."

Milo nodded and looked around again. "If only I had my backpack," he said, mostly to himself.

Karmi looked confused. "I don't understand," she said, "how does that help us?"

"As it's not here," replied Milo with a sigh, "it really doesn't, but I pack my backpack every day. I carry my backpack everywhere. I use it to help me manage Murphy's Law." He looked around again. "So how do we get out of here?" He thought of Zack, Melissa and Amanda again. _I hope they have my backpack,_ he thought.

Hiro was finishing his bowl of stir fry in the atrium of SFIT's Ishimoto Robotics Lab when his phone pinged. He swallowed the last forkful of his dinner, threw down his cutlery with a clatter and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He logged in and quickly tapped and swiped his way through his texts until he found the one he wanted. "The algorithm is finished compiling," he said. He gulped down the last dregs of his soda and stood up. "C'mom," he said, "let's go back up stairs and upload it into Baymax." The others stood up and followed Hiro back toward the elevators. A few minutes later the elevator doors swished silently open and the stepped out into the hall on the eighth floor. They trooped down the hall and Hiro pressed his thumb to the biometric lock and pushed open the door. They crossed the large outer workspace and filed into Hiro's office. He sat down at his desk and typed in his password. A file was flashing on his desktop. Hiro rummaged through a drawer in his desk and pulled out a blank data card. He plugged it into a slot in his computer and downloaded the algorithm. When the download was complete, Hiro pulled the data card out of the slot in his computer and turned to Baymax. The large white robot trundled over to Hiro with a quiet whine. Hiro opened Baymax' data port and plugged in the data card.

"New software detected," said Baymax. "Please stand by." A progress bar appeared on his chest as the algorithm was uploaded. "Upload complete," said Baymax. "Hiro, would you like me to run the negative probability search algorithm?"

Hiro nodded. "Baymax, perform scan."

"Performing scan," replied Baymax calmly. "Please standby." A blue laser grid projected from the large robot's right eye. His servos whined quietly as he walked in place in a tight circle searching, searching for any nearby negative probability fields. After ten minutes Baymax finished the scan. "Scan complete," he said soothingly. "One negative probability field detected."

"Where?" asked Zack, Melissa and Amanda together.

"Sycorax Bionics," replied Baymax at once.

Milo's friends all looked at each other, confused. "So what does that mean?" asked Amanda.

"I'm not entirely sure," replied Hiro.

"Over the past year, San Fransokyo has experienced a number incidents involving crimes committed by known individuals who've been given upgrades," said Wasabi.

Cavendish and Dakota traded looks. They seemed to be having a silent debate, as they were trying to decide who was going to ask the question neither of them wanted to ask. Evidently Dakota lost."'Upgrades' meaning what, exactly," asked Dakota slowly, as if he wasn't really sure he wanted to know the answer.

"Shapeshifting," replied Go Go, "gills, super strength-"

"-the ability to communicate with plants," continued Honey Lemon, "super speed, resistance to radiation, graphene finger nails-,"

Wasabi and Go Go both shuddered slightly at this, they both remembered the first time they had encountered Momokasse and her extendable graphene fingernails. "Seriously?" asked Zack, "graphene fingernails? How is that even- actually, never mind, I don't really want to know."

Hiro continued, "We've suspected that Sycorax that behind all the activity, but we've never been able to prove it until now. If Milo is at Sycorax, it's possible he's seen something."

"OK," said Zack standing up, "so, let's go get Milo."

"Are you sure?" asked Hiro, "we have no idea what we're walking into-,"

Cavendish cut him off. "I realize that you don't know us very well," he said, "but Milo's friends are made of sterner stuff than you realize."

Dakota nodded. "Yeah, Zack, Melissa and Amanda go through a lot for Milo, and most people don't really want Milo around because of Murphy's Law, so he picks his friends very carefully."

"Nobody gets left behind," said Amanda with a note of finality in her voice.

Hiro surveyed Zack, Melissa and Amanda and their shared look of determination and he nodded. "And want about the two of you," he asked looking at the two former time agents.

"We're also Milo's friends," replied Dakota, "and you're definitely not stopping us."

They walked out of the Ishimoto building five minutes later. Again, Zack was never quite able to remember exactly how they had all managed to fit in Wasabi's car. The drive from SFIT to Sycorax' corporate headquarters on the outskirts of San Fransokyo's business district took twenty minutes. A sleek fifty storey office tower stood in the middle of a large collection of building a of various heights. The entire complex was set in the middle of a large expanse of green lawn, which was dotted with placidly turning wind turbines. Multicoloured LEDs wandered up and down an abstract double helix that corkscrewed around the building from the bottom to the top.

Wasabi parked in a public parking lot a block away from the Sycorax campus and they all piled out. They walked across the parking lot and threaded their way through the stream of pedestrians going in the other direction. Baymax trundled along on his short legs, bringing up the rear. He took up most of the sidewalk forcing the stream of pedestrians flowing in the other direction to step on the the road or flattening them against the shopfronts. They reached the intersection and stopped at the street light, looking at the Sycorax campus. It suddenly seemed large, imposing and impenetrable

"Is Milo still in there?" asked Amanda.

Baymax scanned the assorted buildings. "There is a negative probability field on Sub-level Nine."

Hiro, Wasabi, Fred, Go Go and Honey Lemon all traded surprised looks."That's Liv Amara's private lab," said Go Go.

"So what does that mean?" asked Zack, trading worried looks with Melissa and Amanda.

"We won't know until we get inside," replied Hiro.

"So how do we do that?" asked Phineas.

Hiro thought for a second. He has been asking himself the same question. "Baymax, scan the Sycorax campus. See if you can find a way in."


	24. Chapter 24

Episode Thirty-Seven

"Scan complete," replied Baymax after a couple of minutes. "There is a storm drain three hundred metres to the west." A map indicating the location of the storm drain appeared on his chest.

"OK," said Hiro, "let's go." He started walking and the others followed him. It took them them twenty five minutes to reach the storm drain, partially as a result of Baymax' slow gait. They could have crossed the Sycorax compound more or less directly and gotten to the storm drain in half the time, but they were uncertain as to how much attention they would attract doing this. As it was, none of the pedestrians streaming in the opposite direction toward Night Market Square and the entertainment district seemed to take more than a passing interest in a gaggle of teenagers, followed by two older men and a large white robot walking down the street.

They eventually worked their way around to the far side of the Sycorax campus. They eventually came to an open air concrete culvert. It was wide and mostly dry at the bottom, save for a few puddles here and there. It had rained the night before.

"The storm drain is one hundred metres this way,"said Baymax, pointing.

They carefully picked their way down the steep concrete bank of the drainage culvert. They reached the bottom, turned and eventually reached the storm drain that Baymax had detected earlier. They were brought up short up reaching the entrance to the storm drain. The mouth of the tunnel was blocked by a heavy metal grate. Hiro frowned and turned to Baymax. He began to say, "Baymax, see if you can find another way in," but stopped. Zack had unslung the heavy backpack he had been wearing all afternoon. He put it on the ground, opened the top flap and began rummaging through its contents. A piece of paper taped to the inside of the top flap read:

If lost please return to

Milo Murphy

5521 Druid Drive,

Danville, USA

06743

"So, this is Milo's backpack?" asked Hiro.

Amanda nodded. "Milo goes everywhere with his backpack," she said. "He repacks his backpack every day."

"So it's like his tool box?" asked Wasabi.

Zack's head was buried in Milo's backpack and his voice was slightly muffled as he answered, "yeah, kind of." Zack frowned slightly as he sifted through the contents of Milo's backpack. Among other things he found an extra sweater, Milo's usual spare change of clothes, a pair of steel toed boots, Milo's first aid kit, splints, bandages, several of Diogee's chew toys, several flashlights and a handful of batteries

"Milo's pretty good at planning ahead,"explained Melissa, as Zack continued to search through the contents of Milo's backpack. "He basically lives out of his backpack-,"

"Yeah,"said Zack in agreement, "I thought that he might have packed-," Zack's hand closed over something hard and cylindrical attached to a long length of heavy duty rubber hose. He pulled the object in question of Milo's backpack. "-yes," he said triumphantly, "a cutting torch."

Ferb immediately took Milo's cutting torch and the attached bottle of propane from Zack. "You might want to step back," he said. Everyone else took about ten steps back. He produced an pair of welders' goggles from somewhere and walked over to the heavy metal grate blocking the entrance to the storm drain. A bright blue flame appeared at its tip and sparks flew as he touched the nearly white hot flame to the metal.

Hiro, Fred, Wasabi, Honey Lemon and Go Go traded surprised and impressed looks. Evidently Milo was much more resourceful than they had been initially led to believe. "So, what made him think to pack a cutting torch?" asked Go Go.

Zack, Melissa and Amanda all chuckled. "Good question," replied Melissa. "I've been friends with Milo since we were six, and honestly I can't figure out how he does it."

"So what happens if he packs the wrong stuff?" asked Wasabi, "I mean that must happen sometimes, right?"

"Not according to Milo," replied Zack, "well, OK," he amended, "it happened last year."

"Oh you mean that time you wound up dangling upside down from a statue?" asked Melissa with a chuckle.

"Yeah," replied Zack shortly. He preferred not to remember that incident.

Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda had volunteered to clean up Hamilton G County park after the school football field had been flooded with maple syrup and the school picnic had been threatened with cancellation. Murphy's Law had hit almost immediately and Zack had wound up suspended upside down from a statue. To his own very great surprise, Milo had packed mostly the wrong things in his backpack.

"Yeah, it happens occasionally," replied Melissa in agreement, "but it's pretty rare."

"That is statistically impossible,"interjected Baymax calmly. "It is not possible for an adolescent human to have to the predictive capabilities that you ascribe to Milo."

"Yeah, I have to agree with Baymax," replied Hiro. "No offence, but as far as I know that's not supposed to be possible." Hiro was interrupted by a defeating crashing as the storm drain grate fell inward.

Everyone flinched at the sound. _Somebody must have heard that_, thought Zack uneasily. He rummaged through Milo's backpack again and handed out flashlights. Ferb handed him the cutting torch and the bottle of propane. Zack noticed that it was substantially lighter. He repacked Milo's cutting torch and shouldered his backpack. It was noticeably lighter.

"Well, when we find Milo, perhaps you can ask him,"said Melissa.

They approached the mouth of the storm drain. Zack stopped, suddenly feeling apprehensive. The storm drain yawned blackly in front of them. It seemed to swallow the light from their flashlights. Zack suddenly felt as if someone had placed iron bands around his ribs. He suddenly realized that Melissa and Amanda were looking at him with concern.

"Are you OK, Zack?" asked Amanda.

"Yes," he said, "I mean no, I-," he took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Claustroavoidance again?" asked Melissa.

Zack nodded wordlessly.

"OK," said Melissa soothingly, "OK, just take a deep breath and think about Milo-,"

Zack inhaled and exhaled slowly, "right," he said.

"This is just a storm drain," said Melissa, "you remember that time you saved Milo and me from a cave-in in the subway?"

Zack nodded.

"This is just like that," said Melissa.

"We're right here beside you," said Amanda. She put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Melissa nodded. "Amanda's right," she said. "You've got us and Milo's backpack and Cavendish and Dakota."

"Right," said Zack. "Right," he said again, this time with more confidence. "We're going to find Milo and everything's going to be fine." He took a tentative step forward and then another and another. Together, the three of them walked into the dark tunnel. The light from their flashlights played over the bare concrete walls and their foot steps echoed loudly. Zack continued to take deep steadying breaths. The weight of Milo's backpack on his shoulders was a comforting presence against the oppressive darkness, which their flashlights seemed to only just hold at bay.

"So how did the three you become friends with Milo?" asked Hiro. He was slightly surprised that he had asked the question, but at the same time, he couldn't help but like Milo's friends. The relationship they seemed to have with Milo reminded him a little of the relationship he had once had with his older brother, Tadashi, before he had been killed.

"Huh-," said Zack, who, was grateful for the momentary distraction, "oh, I moved into Milo's neighbourhood last year. We met at the bus stop at the end of Milo's street. We were almost run over by a section of concrete drainage pipe and eventually ended up in the sewer."

Amanda paused, wondering how to answer. She had peripherally know Milo since they had both been in the first grade, but she had always kept him at arms' length on account of his condition. Amanda had been diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder when she was seven. To any outsiders, that would have seemed to make a relationship between Milo, with his reputation as a walking disaster magnet, and Amanda, with her obsessive perfectionism, extremely unlikely. "I can thank Zack and Melissa for that,"she said at last with a small chuckle. "They roped me into planning his birthday party last year, and the rest is history."

"Oh, that sounds so nice," gushed Honey Lemon.

Zack nodded. "Milo's family doesn't usually do big celebrations-,"

"Really?" asked Hiro. That seemed to Hiro to be a bit lonely, but he thought it might a bit rude to actually say it.

Melissa nodded and continued "-Murphy's Law makes family gatherings complicated for Milo's family. Milo surprised his parents for Christmas last year by flying his his grandparents, his aunt and uncle and one of his cousins in to Danville for Christmas. The more Murphys there are in one place, the more chaotic everything gets, so they don't get together that often. It was kind of a big deal."

"That's a really a nice gesture," said Hiro, a little wistfully. He still missed Tadashi. "So what about you," he asked Melissa, "how did you first get to know Milo."

Melissa shrugged. "Actually, my story isn't that much different than Zack's," she said. "We were six, and we met on the way to school. Murphy's Law hit and a rocket engine became lodged on the roof of the school bus. We were thrown through the emergency door. Milo's grappling hook got caught on the back bumper and-,"

She was interrupted by the sound of Cavendish dropping his flashlight. It hit the concrete floor with a loud clatter and rolled away casting wild shadows all around them. The two former time agents looked at each other in surprise for a moment that seemed to last for several eternities. "You were thrown," finished Cavendish. It was not a question. He walked over to where his flashlight had stopped and picked it up.

Zack and Melissa looked at each other in confusion. "Cavendish, how did you know that?" asked Melissa.

"The two of you were airborne," continued Dakota.

Melissa nodded. "We were being dragged behind the school bus. It took a corner too fast and-,"

It suddenly clicked. "You two were there weren't you," asked Zack.

Cavendish nodded. "It was my time vehicle driving test," he said.

"The driving test is the last stage in the time agent training program," explained Dakota.

"Yes," said Cavendish, "in order to become a fully fledged time agent it is necessary to be able to operate a time vehicle safely." He paused and shot a sidelong glance at Dakota. "I nearly failed my driving test because _someone_ wanted a burrito."

"Hey," Dakota held up his hands in mock defense, "I was hungry," he gestured at Melissa, "and we probably saved their lives."

"Yeah," said Melissa, "I-uh-thanks."

Cavendish waved away Melissa's thanks, "there's no need to thank us," he said. "We were just doing our jobs."

"Yeah," said Dakota in agreement, "what are you gonna do."


	25. Chapter 25

Episode Thirty-Eight

They kept walking until they entered a large, round concrete cistern. Their foot steps echoed loudly. Zack slowly let out a breath and felt himself relax slightly. In the larger space of the cistern he felt his sense of claustrophobia ease and the tension in his muscles ebbed slightly. The imaginary iron bands around his ribs disappeared. A metal staircase wrapped part way around the curved wall of the cistern. There was no other way out. They climbed the staircase and came to a nondescript looking door covered in dull grey paint. It was locked.

_A little bit of Murphy's Law would be helpful right now_, thought Zack. Door knobs frequently came off in Milo's hand as a result of his negative probability field.

Melissa started to say, "I don't supposed anybody knows how to pick a lock?" but stopped. Phineas and Ferb were both patting their pockets, as though looking for something and Phineas produced a small tool kit. He extracted a screwdriver and proceeded to start jimmying the lock. After a couple of seconds it swung open with an audible click. They stepped into a deserted corridor. Fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling at regular intervals. Piping and thick bundles of cables lined the walls. A sign set amongst the tangle read "Sub-level 12."

They all studied the sign for several moments, as though hoping it would reveal something more. When it didn't, Melissa turned to Baymax. "Can you tell where on Sub-level nine Milo is?" she asked.

"I can not,"replied Baymax soothingly. "The building is blocking my ability to detect Milo."

Hiro frowned. He had hoped that Baymax would have been able to provide Milo's exact location. "So, we're going have to do this the hard way."

It was Amanda's turn to frown. "Something doesn't feel right," she said.

Zack, Melissa, Cavendish and Dakota all stared at each other in confusion for several seconds. "I don't hear anything," said Cavendish at last.

Melissa figured it out first. "No, Amanda's right," she said. "Milo's here somewhere, but there are no burst pipes, no flooding, no fire alarms, no nothing."

Phineas nodded in agreement. Murphy's Law had comprehensively wrecked one of Phineas and Ferb's workshops the first time they had met Milo in about a minute flat the previous year. "So what do we do now?" he asked.

"We need to find a way up to Sub-level nine,"said Zack. "Maybe we'll find something up there."

They picked a direction and set of. They eventually came to a T-junction, turned left and came to a fire at the end of the hall. They went through a door into a large open space. A computer station stood in the middle of the room and a large screen occupied one wall. A workbench with equipment occupied the opposite wall. A red exit sign glowed over a door at the opposite end of the room. The room was slightly chilly and bathed in a harsh electronic green light.

The silence was broken unexpectedly by Fred, who shivered in the slight chill and said, "OK, this place is right out of Captain Fancy #192, and totally not in good way."

Zack and Wasabi nodded in unison. "Yeah-," said Zack

"-This is kind of creepy," finished Wasabi.

"Well, Milo obviously isn't here," replied Melissa.

"Let's keep going," replied Hiro.

They quickly crossed the room, pushed open the door and stepped out into the hall. They were met with the same nondescript tangle of cables and piping. Another red exit sign glowed from amid the overhead tangle at the end of the corridor. They walked down the corridor and pushed open the heavy metal fire door. They entered into a concrete stairwell. There were stairs leading both up and down. A sign on the wall had arrows pointing both up and down.

Sub-level 9

Applied Genetics

Sub-level 10

Eco Engineering

Sub-level 11

Atmospheric cycling

Sub-level 12

Waste Water Reclamation

Sub-level 13

Building Dynamic Stabilizers

They read the sign and Amanda had a sudden moment of disquiet."Do I want to know why Milo would be in an applied genetics lab," she asked.

"Lets keep going," replied Zack by way of an answer.

It didn't take them very long the climb the three flights of stairs up to Sub-level nine. They pushed open the door and found themselves in another deserted hallway. There were no exposed pipes or bundles of fibre optic or electrical cables. Instead there were doors marching away down the corridor in both directions. They were all locked with biometric locks.

"Baymax, perform scan," said Hiro, "see if you can get a fix on Milo."

"I am unable to locate Milo," replied Baymax calmly after he had complete the scan. "A section of the building is being shielded-,"

Hiro frowned again.

"-but I am detecting a strong negative probability field from the building's southwest corner." Baymax indicted the desired direction.

Zack hitched Milo's backpack higher up on his shoulders, which were starting to ache. He had been wearing Milo's backpack almost non-stop since they had arrived in San Fransokyo that afternoon. He looked his watch, it was close to midnight. "OK," he said, "let's go."

They set off and eventually came to a heavy set of fire doors. They were made of dark grey metal and had no windows. Set in the wall next to the heavy looking double doors was a retinal scanner, a palm reader and a digital key pad.

"Hiro," said Baymax, after yet another scan, "I am unable to scan beyond these doors."

"So how do we open those doors?" asked Dakota.

Phineas and Ferb were both studying the multiple biometric locks preventing them from going forward. "We should be able to bypass these locks," said the young genius, "but this is a pretty sophisticated set-up. This'll take some time."

Half an hour later, the heavy double doors swung slowly open. They found themselves in a large open room. In the middle was a medical examination table under a cluster of surgical lights. One wall was dominated by a large screen with a abstract corporate logo. Various pieces of equipment lined the other walls. Work carts with computers were scattered haphazardly around the room.

"OK, Hamada," said Cavendish, "where's Milo."

"Baymax," said Hiro in response, "perform scan."

"Hiro, there is a strong negative probability field twenty metres away," replied Baymax after a couple of minutes.

"Can you be more specific?" asked Hiro.

"I can not," replied Baymax.

"Why not?" asked Hiro.

"I am uncertain," said Baymax, "I am detecting a field of positivity probability ions in addition to the pre-existing negative probability field."

"Well, that would explain why we haven't seen any signs of Milo," said Melissa.

Zack nodded in agreement. "Yeah," he said, "It's like-," he suddenly stopped, remembering how the Murphy's Lawinator had left Milo in substantial discomfort after the Octalian Incident.

Melissa must have noticed the look Zack's because she said, "OK, everybody spread out. Milo's here somewhere and he may be in a lot of discomfort."

They paired off and spread out down the various side corridors that radiated outward from the room they had initially entered.

"Are you think what I'm thinking?" asked Zack.

"Doof's inator all over again?" asked Melissa in reply.

"Yeah," replied Zack. He suddenly felt tired. They had had a long day. He suddenly realized that Melissa was looking at him.

"Are you OK, Zack?"she asked.

They were walking past what seemed to be endless rows of suspended animation pods. They were all empty, but they were lit from within by a faint green glow. Zack found the effect to be a little unsettling. "Yeah," he said, "This place gives me the creeps, and I'm worried about Milo."

Melissa put a hand on his shoulder and Zack was suddenly grateful for the gesture. "It's going to be OK," she said. "We're going to find Milo, he's going to be fine and go home."

Zack nodded. "Right," he said. They turned a corner and left the suspended animation pods behind. They were walking down a different row with what appeared to be cages on either side. Some of the had a metal cot and a stainless steel toilet. Others contained nothing at all. All of them appeared to be unoccupied. Except for two opposite each other at the end of the row.

"Milo!" exclaimed Melissa in relief.

"Zack! Melissa!" cried Milo, he looked a little dishevelled, but aside from a bandage on his neck below his right ear, he appeared to be unharmed. He spied something large and heavy hanging from Zack's shoulders. "And you have my backpack!" he cried in relief. Milo nodded at Karmi. "See," he said excitedly, "I told you my friends would find me." He turned back to Zack and Melissa. "There should be-,"

"-a cutting torch and a pair of goggles in your backpack?" asked Melissa.

"Yeah," said Milo, slightly mystified, "how did you-,"

"You might be out of propane," replied Zack.

"We used it to cut through a storm grate to get it here," explained Melissa. "Are you OK, Milo?" she asked. She motioned to bandage on his neck. "What did they do to you?"

Milo's hand went subconsciously to the spot where the biochip has been implanted under his skin below his right ear. "Oh," he said, "yeah, I'm not entirely sure." He spent the next fifteen minutes quickly what had happened to him since had initially woken up here.

"So Baymax was right-," began Melissa, when Milo has finished talking.

"Did you say that Baymax is here?" Melissa and Zack both turned. The holding cage opposite Milo's was occupied by a girl who appeared to the same age as they were. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

It suddenly clicked. "You're Karmi," asked Zack, "Hiro's friend."

For a second Karmi looked uncomfortable, as if no one had ever called her a friend before. Then she composed her self. "We are colleagues," she said at last,"we go to SFIT together."

"Right," replied Melissa slowly. From the way Hiro had spoken earlier, she had gotten the impression that he and Karmi were close friends, but apparently Hiro's friendship had gone unreturned. She turned to Zack, who had pulled his phone out of his pocket. He was tapping and swiping through his apps. "Zack you should tell Cavendish and Dak-,"

Zack nodded as he fired off several texts in quick succession. "Yeah, way ahead of you, Melissa," he said. No sooner Zack spoken than Phineas and Ferb popped into existence as if the genius stepbrothers had been simply conjured out of thin air. Zack jumped slightly. "What the-how did you do that?"

"Our phones have features that are rather after market add-ones," explained Ferb.

"Yeah," said Phineas, "like voice activated teleportation. Oh, hi Milo," he said, as casually as if they had simply run into each other over lunch at Slushy Dawg.

"Hi, Phineas," replied Milo.

Melissa had opened her mouth and was about to speak when Cavendish and Dakota round a corner with Hiro, Wasabi, Fred, Go Go, Honey Lemon and Baymax in tow. Cavendish looked relieved and immediately went over to Milo's holding cage.

"Oh, hi Cavendish," said Milo.

"Hello Milo," said Cavendish, "are you all right?"

"Well, I think so," replied Milo and he quickly told them what had happened to him.

Cavendish's face wore a look of outrage. "But that's absolutely-," he began.

Dakota cut him off, "hey Flynn," he said to Phineas, "see if you can get this open."

"Oh, right," said Phineas. He turned to his stepbrother, "C'mon, Ferb," and the two of them set to work on unlocking the holding cage.


	26. Chapter 26

Episode Thirty-Nine

Phineas and Ferb were half way through hacking the biometric lock on Milo's holding cage, when the sound of foot steps interrupted their work. Everybody turned at the sound to see a man and a woman, both tall, blond and good looking walking down the corridor between the rows of empty holding cages, from the opposite end of the corridor that Zack, Melissa and Amanda had come down. Milo and Hiro both stared at them with narrowed eyes.

Zack suddenly realized that Hiro, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Go Go and Fred had all stiffened at the sight of the two figures.

"Milo?" Amanda started to ask, "who is she-,"

"Liv Amara," said Hiro. It was a statement, not a question. His hands were balled into fists. "I knew it," he said

"Hello, Hiro," said Amara, she seemed genuinely pleased to see him. "I was wondering when you'd make it down here."

"What did you do to Milo and Karmi?" asked Hiro. "Baymax, perform scan."

"What would you like me to scan for, Hiro?" asked Baymax.

"Hiro, we already know about the parasynths," interjected Melissa.

For a brief moment, Hiro took his eyes off of Liv Amara He looked at Milo. He had briefly spoken to Karmi, but he had not yet had the opportunity to talk to Milo, and he had not had the opportunity to ask either Karmi or Milo exactly what Liv had done to them. "Milo, is that true?" he asked.

Milo nodded.

"Messing with Milo's DNA-," began Zack hotly.

"-is probably very, very dangerous," interjected Cavendish.

"Yes, we know," replied Amara. "We do our homework. That's why we built the positive probability wave generator." Amara paused. "Hiro, I have not been completely honest with you," said Amara.

Hiro looked at her suspiciously. "What do you mean?" he asked slowly.

Amara looked as if she was wrestling with something. "I am not actually Liv Amara."

Hiro, Wasabi, Fred, Honey Lemon and Go Go all looked at each other in utmost confusion. "That's just-I-," Hiro stammered.

"I don't believe you," said Go Go bluntly.

"Neither do I," replied Wasabi. "Baymax perform scan." He jerked his head at the woman they had all thought until a few seconds ago was Liv Amara, the CEO of Sycorax Bionics. "Let's see who she really is."

Baymax waddled over to where Amara was standing. "Please remain still, while I complete the scan." She was bathed from head to toe in a grid of blue laser light as Baymax carried out the scan. "I can confirm the presence of Liv Amara's DNA," said Baymax calm a few seconds later, "however, I also detect a number of genetic anomalies that I can not account for."

Amara eyed Hiro. "Satisfied?" she asked.

"Why would Liv Amara clone herself?" asked Hiro by way of an answer.

"Because she's dying," replied Amara.

Hiro, Wasabi, Fred, Honey Lemon and Go Go all exchanged surprised looks. "What happened?" asked Hiro. He wanted her to keep talking. He had always suspected that Sycorax was connected to the monster attacks that had been occurring all year, but he had never been able to work how. If he could keep her talking he be able to answer a lot of questions.

"My name is Di Amara," said Di. "Liv was engaged in cutting edge life extension research-,"

"-the parasynths?" asked Hiro. Di nodded. "what do they do?" he asked.

"They're supposed to attack foreign organisms in the body and repair genetic defects,"

Di answered, "but something went wrong and the parasynths began to attack Liv's cellular structure instead. Liv tried to find a cure, but she wasn't given very long to live, so she had me grown and had herself placed in suspended animation-,"

"-wait, I don't understand," interjected Amanda. She had been following the conversation as closely as everyone else, but she felt as though something was missing. "How does Milo fit into all of this?"

"Human experimentation is subject to strict government oversight," replied Di, "and even stricter funding rules," she said. "So I had to find a work around."

It suddenly clicked. "You've been selling upgrades," said Hiro, "haven't you? Orso Knox, Momokasse, High Voltage, Mr. Sparkle, you wanted Milo because you wanted to weaponize his negative probability field and-,"

Cavendish was suddenly shouting at Di Amara. "_You kidnapped a fourteen year boy with a complex and highly unpredictable hereditary condition! And you subjected him to unethical genetic experiments! Without his consent!_ _Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?!"_

Hiro gazed levelly at Di Amara. "Sounds like you made a mistake Ms. Amara-,"

"You're damn right she did," cut in Dakota.

"Let Milo go,"demanded Melissa.

Di gave all of them searching look, which came to rest on Hiro, who gave her a determined look in return. "I'm surprised at you, Hiro," she said with a slightly reproving note in her voice. "I thought you'd be more understanding."

Hiro shook his head emphatically. "What you've done is wrong," he said. "You need to let Karmi and Milo go."

Di sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Hiro, but I can't do that." She turned to her assistant. "Chris, our guests will be leaving now."

Chris smirked at the assembled group. "I hope you've enjoyed your visit," he said, "but it's time for you to be going." He began walking towards them.

Dakota began moving as well. "The hell we are," he growled. "We're not leaving without Milo."

Chris was faster and got to Dakota first. By the time he did, he had undergone a dramatic physical transformation. He was a foot taller and had some how packed on an additional two hundred pounds of muscle. Dakota's eyes went wide in shock and he heard Hiro say, "how did you do that?"

He smoothly dodged Dakota's thrown fist. "Basic CRISPR technique," he said with another smirk, "this is a mix of dog, bear and gorilla DNA." He turned his attention back to Dakota and cold cocked the time agent. He dropped, stunned, like a sack of potatoes.

At the same moment, Milo gasped. It was as if the scar in his neck were suddenly on fire. Milo's hand scrabbled at the biochip implanted under his skin. His nerve endings were firing wilding and he felt as if his insides were suddenly full of writhing snakes. He suddenly doubled over clutching his abdomen.

Zack, Melissa and Amanda stared wide-eyed at Milo. His skin was become scabbed. As they watched it hardened into hardened into scales. They were suddenly aware of the sudden outburst of babbling voices behind them and turned.

The dazed Dakota was supported by Cavendish and Wasabi

Hiro was saying, "Karmi! No, no, no, no!"

Cavendish was swearing and Amanda said, "Madre de adios." Karmi was covered from head to foot in glistening fish scales. Gills gaped wetly on either side of her neck and her fingers ended in razor sharp talons. She took hold of the bars in front of her and wrenched them apart as they were made of rubber.

"Oh, this can't be good," said Wasabi.

One of the bars went whistling past Zack's ear, nearly taking his head off from behind and he turned. He if he could have blanched he would have. "Milo?!" Milo had mutated like Karmi. He had hard, scaly skin like a lizard's. His pupils had become elongated and a long forked tongue flicked out, tasting the air. Milo was surrounded by a hazy blue energy field and for a moment Zack wondered what it could be. Then it clicked.

Evidently Melissa had been thinking the same thing because she started to say, "we need to get out of here," but she never got all of the words out. Ghostly tendrils of probability lashed out and the bars separating Milo from his friends were suddenly blown outward at high velocity. Zack had only a split second to register what was happening and he flung himself at Melissa and Amanda, knocking the three of them to the ground. He saw Milo's feet running into and then out of his field of vision. He left cracked footprints in the concrete floor.

"Are you all right?"asked Zack Melissa and Amanda. They both nodded.

Phineas and Ferb were disentangling themselves from the pile of metal that Murphy's Law had unexpectedly hurled at them when Zack had tackled Melissa and Amanda to the floor. Phineas pressed a hand to the left side of his chest and Ferb's square nose was squashed and turning purple. Zack guessed that it was broken. Hiro and Go Go were in the process of levering Baymax back on to his feet. In the ensuing chaos the big robot had deflated and collapsed.

Baymax swayed, as if he were drunk. His low power indicator was flashing and his speech was slurred. "I like puppies,"he said thickly

Hiro looked around wide eyed at the chaos Milo had left in his wake. Di Amara, Chris, Milo and Karmi were all gone. "Was that-," he started to ask.

"-Murphy's Law," said Zack. He shrugged Milo's backpack higher onto his shoulders and was heading for the exit. "C'mon, we need to get to Milo before he hurts himself or-," he stopped. He couldn't bring himself say, "someone else." Milo was clearly not in his right mind, but Zack, Melissa and Amanda knew that he would never forgive himself if somebody else got seriously hurt because of him. The others fell into line behind Zack as he made for the door.

"So how do we find Milo?"asked Honey Lemon as she followed Zack, Melissa and Amanda out of the room.

"Simple," replied Melissa. "Just follow the chaos."


	27. Chapter 27

Episode Forty

Ten minutes later they were crossing the large lobby that dominated the building's main floor. The lobby was a mess. The floor was covered with shards of glass from where a large skylight had fallen in. Furniture that had once been arranged in elegant clusters was haphazardly scattered everywhere. An ornamental pond in one corner had in congruously caught fire and not yet gone out. The flames were crackling loudly. For a second Zack wondered why the fire suppression system hadn't put out the flames, then realized that the building fire suppression system had probably failed. They quickly wove their way through the debris that Milo had left in his wake and made their way outside. The trail of wreckage continued outside. As it was late at night, the Sycorax campus was mostly deserted. The trash bins were crumpled like empty pop cans and the light standard were twisted into abstract shapes. Chunks of concrete were scattered everywhere. Sirens wailed in the distance.

Hiro turned to Baymax."Where are the sirens headed?" he asked.

"There is a disturbance in Night Market Square," replied Baymax, as if this were about as interesting as reading the phone book.

"That's definitely not good," replied Hiro, his face etched with at this hour, Night Market Square would be full of people. _Somebody could definitely get hurt, _Hiro thought and he quickly made a decision. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and quickly began tapping and swiping through his apps.

At the same time, Wasabi was digging his car keys out of his pocket. He cast a look at Cavendish and Dakota. "Can either of you drive stick?" he asked.

Cavendish raised a hand. "I can," he said.

Wasabi tossed the time agent his car keys. "Take my car," he said.

Dakota was Googling the directions to Night Market Square. Zack was almost yanked off of his feet as Dakota thrust out a big hand and grabbed Mi¡o's backpack. Zack started to say, "but what about-,"

He was cut off mid-sentence as Hiro said, "it's OK. We'll meet you there."

Zack regained his balance his balance and caught up with Cavendish, Dakota, Melissa, Amanda, Phineas and Ferb. He cast a look over his shoulder at Hiro and his friends. They were all looking at the sky, as if they were waiting for something to happen. "So, what," he asked, "they're just leaving?"

"They'll meet us there," replied Dakota with a shrug. "C'mon, we gotta get going."

It took ten minutes to walk back where Wasabi's car was parked, in contrast the half an hour in had taken them to sneak into the building in the first place. The brightly lit skyscrapers strobed and pulsed with green and purple neon lights. They got in and Cavendish turned the key in the ignition. The engine came to life, Cavendish clunked his way through the gears, shifting into reverse and they backed out of the parking space. There was what seemed like an eternity of silence in the car. In actuality, it was only lasted as long as it took for Cavendish to pull into traffic.

Amanda took a deep breath and let it out slowly, as if she was weighing whether or not she should ask the question she clearly wanted ask. "What did they do to Milo?" she asked. She was sitting between Zack and Melissa looking straight ahead between Cavendish and Dakota in the two front seats. It was clear to everyone that the question was directed at Phineas and Ferb.

The two stepbrothers looked at each other. Zack got the impression that they were having a silent conversation. It wasn't the first time he had gotten that impression. They were very, very close, almost to the point of having a shared personality, even though they were very different in some ways, but Zack had the distinct impressing that they were arguing with each other, which was something that Zack had never known them to do. Ferb shrugged silently and Zack and Melissa both took that as a sign that Phineas had won the argument.

"I think they rewrote Milo's DNA," he said.

"But why would they do that?" asked Melissa.

That sparked something in Zack's memory. "Hiro said that Liv, or Di, or whoever she is, was selling 'upgrades.'" He paused. "What does that even mean. And how do you even know him any way?"

Phineas and Ferb exchange another glance, as if they were having another silent debate. After another minute or two of silence, Ferb shrugged again and Phineas spoke.

"We met Hiro the summer before last," replied Phineas with a shrug, "at a Mensa event in Danville." It wasn't lost on anyone else in the car that Phineas had chosen to answer Zack's second question first.

"OK," replied Melissa slowly, she traded a look with Zack, "but Hiro said she was selling upgrades. To who?"

Phineas frowned slightly, wondering how to answer Zack's question honestly without giving away what he suspected about Hiro and his friends. Hiro and Phineas occasionally bounced ideas and concepts off of each other. As far as Phineas and Ferb had ever been able to tell, Hiro didn't have the genius stepbrothers' lucky streak, but he was very smart and shared similar interests with Phineas and Ferb. Over the last year, however, Phineas had noticed a subtle shift in some of the ideas that Hiro had pitched him, such as a light weight carbon composite that Hiro had claimed was intended to be used as skin panels for a hypersonic suborbital aircraft. Phineas had reasoned that it certainly could be used that way, but upon closer examination, he had discovered that it was laced with titanium threads.

Phineas had quickly crunched the numbers and realized a metamaterial of the specifications that Hiro had sent him would stop anything up to a shoulder fired rocket without leaving a scratch. He had wondered why Hiro would be interested in such a material for an aerospace application when there were other less exotic materials that could easily do the same job. There had been several other similar projects, all of which Hiro had claimed were homework, that had struck Phineas as odd in various ways. There had been an advance exoskeleton that amplified the strength of the wearer by a factor of ten, along with a handbag that could synthesize any known chemical compound or complex molecule. Hiro had claimed that it was intended to be used by first responders to synthesize drugs in emergency situations, but the "chempurse," as Hiro had called it appeared to be capable of much, much more than Hiro had let on.

A slight frown creased Phineas' face. Zack, Melissa and Amanda were clearly much more perceptive than he had given them credit had worked out that there was more to Hiro than he let on, much quicker than Phineas and Ferb had. Phineas wondered if being Milo's closest friends had forced them to learn to read between the lines as a means of looking out for Milo and each other. This wasn't the first time Phineas and Ferb had intentionally concealed the truth either. The previous summer, while camping with their parents at Mount Nose State Park, Phineas and Ferb had proved the existence of the Lake Nose Monster. They had then chosen to bury the evidence of their discovery so that Nosey might be left in peace. Phineas' frown deepened slightly as he weighed whether or not he should tell Zack, Melissa and Amanda what he knew, or at least guessed about Hiro. Phineas opted for at least some of the truth.

"You guys are really perceptive," he said, clearly impressed at their reasoning skills. He nodded at Ferb. "It took us a lot longer to come to the same conclusion."

Zack, Melissa and Amanda all traded a look. "What conclusion is that?" asked Amanda.

Phineas momentarily hesitated. He suddenly found that he couldn't quite bring himself to say the word "superhero," it sounded a bit silly. He traded a look with his stepbrother that the others couldn't read. "We think that Hiro is doing something that he can't really talk about," said Phineas.

"Like what?" asked Melissa.

"We don't really know," replied Phineas.

"But we've noticed that many of the ideas that Hiro has pitched at us have…..alternate applications," said Ferb cryptically.

Phineas quickly rattled off a few of the ideas and projects that Hiro had shared with them. "And you've never asked him?" asked Zack.

Phineas shook his head. "No," he said. He nodded at his stepbrother again. "We've talked about it a couple times," he said, "but we're pretty sure he won't talk about it,"

_Sounds like Reggie and his art_, thought Zack, remembering how delighted Milo had been that Amanda had been able to convince Reggie to give Milo one of his drawings for Christmas.

Zack, Melissa and Amanda traded another look. "But you trust Hiro?" asked Amanda. She suddenly looked stricken. "I mean how do we-," she stopped suddenly. She apparently couldn't bring herself to say the words, "save Milo."

Zack and Melissa both looked at Phineas. The young genius's eyes flicked from Amanda, who staring woodenly ahead between Cavendish and Dakota again, to Zack and Melissa who were both staring earnestly at Phineas and Ferb.

Melissa looked Phineas squarely in the eye. She took a deep steadying breath. "Phineas," she began slowly, "Milo has been my best friend since I was six. Tell me than we can undo this."

Phineas and Ferb traded another look that Zack was unable to read. Ferb reached out and gently placed a hand on Melissa's arm. "It's going to be OK," he said quietly.

Phineas nodded in agreement. "Milo is our friend too," he said, "and we're going to get him back."

It didn't take very long to drive from where they had parked to the edge of the Night Market District, where they were stopped unexpectedly. "You'll have to turn around," said the police officer, shining a flashlight into the car.

"What seems to be the problem, officer?" asked Cavendish.

The police officer shrugged. "Supervillains, again," he said. "The Night Market District has been cordoned off." The man's gaze swept the occupants of the car and took in the baseball-sized lump on Dakota's temple, as well as Ferb's broken nose. Phineas was clearly favouring his left side. He suspected that he had bruised a couple of ribs. Zack, Melissa and Amanda were clearly looking worried about something. "Is everything alright?" he asked.

Cavendish nodded a little too enthusiastically. "Oh, yes, officer," he said, "everything is just peachy keen!"

The police officer studied them for what seemed like several eternities. In actuality, it was only a few seconds. "You need to turn around," he said again and he gestured in the direction of his partner who was playing the role of traffic cop.

Cavendish clunked Wasabi's car back into gear and, following the waved directions of the traffic cop, eased into the flow of traffic going in the other direction.


	28. Chapter 28

Episode Forty One

Cavendish had barely driven half a block before he turned down a side street. He clunked through the gears into park and pulled the key out of the ignition. The engine died and they piled out. The side street in which they had parked was deserted. There were a few overflowing dumpsters scattered here and there down the alley, which was lit with a dull orange light from overhead street lights. They started walking. Garbage from from the overflowing dumpsters was scattered here and there on the ground. A battered looking metal sign on the opposite wall said that this was "Good Luck Alley." Light from a number of open doors spilled into the deserted space. They had names like "The Golden Buddha" and "The Lucky Dragon." Music, the jangling of slot machines and a pungent aroma that Zack couldn't identify wafted through the open doors as they passed. From the brief glimpses that Zack caught of the interiors as they passed, they looked decidedly seedy. From the other end of the alley the bright lights of Night Market Square cast a long puddle of multicoloured neon into the alley. They all eyed the cop car parked at the opposite end of the alley, where it opened onto Night Market Square and looked at each other.

"So how do we get inside the police cordon?" asked Amanda.

There was about a minute of silence as they pondered the problem. They couldn't simply ask the police to let them in. The police had no reason to do so and would likely never believe their story. Zack sighed and unslung Milo's backpack. _I'm probably going to regret this_, he thought. He set Milo's backpack on the ground and quickly rifled through it, extracting a long handled crowbar. Even as he did, he thought he could feel the iron bands around his chest again. He ignored them, found the nearest manhole cover and began trying to jimmy the crowbar under the heavy metal cover.

"Zack, what are you doing?" asked Phineas.

Zack spoke through gritted teeth as he grunted with the extortion of trying to lift the manhole cover. "Something I'll probably regret," he said. The manhole cover shifted slightly.

"Are you sure about this Zack?" asked Amanda slightly skeptically.

Melissa nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you don't have to do this," she said. "This isn't Danville," she added. "We don't know these sewers at all."

The manhole cover shifted a little more and Zack jammed the crowbar solidly underneath. "No," he said, "this isn't Danville. If we were at home, we'd probably be in some other insane situation, but Milo would be here to help us figure out how to get out of it." Zack grunted again as he levered the manhole cover up a couple of inches. A strong sewer smell came wafting out. "And yes, Milo has a better head for the Danville sewer system than I do, but Milo could actually hurt someone and we don't have time to waste talking to the police, who probably won't believe us anyway, so why don't you help me move this thing before I chicken out!"

There was a enough of a gap between the manhole cover and the lip for Cavendish and Dakota to get their hands around the edge. They grabbed hold of it and with some effort, Zack, Cavendish and Dakota levered it into a vertical position. They let go of the manhole cover and it fell over backwards, landing on the pavement with a dull clang, which reverberated loudly in the confined space of the alley. Everyone flinched.

Melissa, Amanda and Phineas all looked a little like deer caught in on-coming headlights. Zack suddenly realized that they were staring at him. Zack picked up Milo's backpack and shrugged it back on to his shoulders. "I'm sorry, guys I-," he began.

Melissa opened her mouth to say something, but Dakota cut her off. "Somebody probably heard that," he said, motioning to the manhole cover. "We need to get moving."

Zack looked down at the open manhole cover. It seemed to be a mile deep. He took a deep breath and fought the urge to hyperventilate. _OK,_ he thought, _this is your bright idea._ He suddenly remembered something and reached over his shoulder, thrusting his hand into Milo's backpack. _Milo always packs three or four flashlights,_ he thought. His hand closed over several flashlights almost immediately. He extracted them and handed one each to Amanda, Ferb, and Cavendish. He kept the fourth for himself. Zack shrugged Milo's backpack higher on his shoulders, clicked on his flashlight and stuck it in the pocket of his jeans. He crouched down and lowered himself into the open manhole. The sewer smell was strong in his nostrils and he tried breathing through his mouth so he wouldn't have to breath in the stench, but it didn't really work. He suddenly noticed a bitter taste in the back of his mouth and had to actively resist the urge to throw up. _Why does this sewer smell so bad? _Zack wondered. He had been down in the Danville sewer system dozens of times with Milo and Melissa and it didn't smell even remotely this bad. Zack suddenly realized that he was fighting two opposing instincts. The sewer was narrow. They would have to walk in single file. In the confining space and inky darkness, Zack wanted to hyperventilate, but he was trying not to breath deeply, so as not to breath in the nauseating smell. Zack craned his neck to see who was standing behind him. It was Dakota. His normally dark sunglasses glowed a vivid electronic green. Zack opened his mouth to speak to the time agent, but Dakota spoke first.

"Oh fertilize me, this smells awful," muttered Dakota. "Zack, hold still," he said. He pushed open the flap on top of Milo's backpack. "I'm going to see if Milo packed filter masks."

Zack nodded. "Good idea," he said in agreement. He felt Dakota rummaging through the contents of Milo's backpack. A sudden thought occurred to him, "just to warn you, Dakota, they might be-,"

"Doctor Zone masks?" said Dakota, "really?"

Zack had half expected that. Milo, Zack and Melissa had once stayed late after school to look for Melissa's missing math book. An encounter with the hall monitors had left them coughing on a cloud of chalk dust. Without blinking, Milo had produced three filter masks from his backpack.

"And they look like circus animals because-," Zack had asked only a little sarcastically.

Milo had given a trademark casual shrug in response. "They serve a variety of purposes," he had replied.

Zack sighed to himself and took one of the masks proffered by Dakota. Between claustrophobia and being able to breath properly, he'd take breathing. Zack pulled on his mask and took a deep breath. The air entering his lungs tasted flat and filtered, but at least it was clean. He took another breath and another and another. Zack felt himself noticeably relax.

"OK," Zack said, mostly to himself. He sounded as though he was trying to psych himself up. "OK, lets go." He started walking. He could hear the muffled footsteps of the others behind him squelching in the sludge that lined the bottom of the tunnel. Zack had to work at not thinking about what it was. The tunnel ran straight with almost no deviation for what seemed to Zack like several hundred meters. He started slightly when Dakota tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to look over his shoulder. The night vision mode of the time agent's sunglasses cast a creepy green glow through the eyes of the Doctor Zone mask. "What is it?"

Dakota pointed down the tunnel. "I think I see an exit up ahead. Another hundred meters."

Some of Zack's relief crept into his voice. "Are you sure?"

Dakota nodded. "Yeah," he said. He tapped his sunglasses. "I can see a ladder."

Zack nodded, "OK" he said, "lets keep going."

They resumed their march and a short time later, which seemed to Zack to last several eternities, they found themselves at the base of the ladder that Dakota had seen. In actuality, it had really only about ten minutes. Zack felt as though his sense of the passage of time was being warped by the dark confines of the tunnel. He took a deep breath. _Everything's fine_, he thought, _you haven't been down here that long_. His breath felt hot against the inside of his mask. Zack stuck his flashlight in his pocket, put his hands on the rungs of the ladder set into the tunnel wall and began to climb. Zack estimated that he had climbed maybe about twenty five feet when the top of his head struck something hard and metallic. "Ow!"

"Zack, are you OK?"

Zack looked down and saw Dakota just below him on the ladder. He could feel a lump the size of a chicken egg rising on the top of his head. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said. Zack looked up and saw that he had hit his head on the bottom of a sewer grate. "I'm underneath a storm drain." He studied the underside of the sewer grate for a second or two. "I'm going to see if I can move it," he called down. Zack carefully leaned back and braced himself against the opposite wall. He could feel the prongs of Milo's grappling hook digging into his back, but he ignored this. He reached up, placed his hands on the underside of the sewer grate and pushed upward. The sewer grate came loose with a dull metallic scrape. Zack pushed it aside and climbed out of the sewer. The others followed closely behind him.

Zack pulled off his Doctor Zone mask and straightened up. He took a deep breath, taking a lungful of clean air. Zack felt his tension ebb as his claustroavoidance melted away. He looked around. They had emerged in the centre of a large plaza. It was ringed on all sides by tall glass and steel skyscrapers. They strobed and pulsed with green and purple neon lights. Something flickered in the corner of his eye and a slim athletic looking woman in a chef's uniform, an impish looking figure in a violently purple jacket and what Zack could only assume was some kind of robot stepped out of the shadows. He, Zack assumed it was a "he," but it was hard to tell for sure. It looked like some kind of corporate mascot. The figure in the spangly purple jacket had a wicked looking face and long, clever fingers that looked as though they were itching throttle something. It had a clump of bright green leaves on its head instead of hair and it was surround by what Zack initially took be a collection of small plants, except that they were like no plants that Zack had ever seen before. For a start, they had faces. Zack had never heard of a plant with a face and they were making noises. They kept repeating the same word over and over again. "Mayoi. Mayoi. Mayoi."

Zack was suddenly aware of Melissa whispering in his ear. "Zack, where is Milo?"


	29. Chapter 29

Episode Forty Two

Zack looked frantically around him at the three figures standing in front of them and the multicoloured skyscrapers that edged the plaza. A decorative fountain tinkled happily in the middle of the square. LED screens on the surrounding buildings announced, "welcome to Night Market Square! The heart of San Fransokyo's entertainment district!"

Zack looked around again, wondering if he had somehow missed something. _No broken glass_, he thought, _no rubble, no burst water mains, no explosions, no nothing_. A tall construction crane stood off to one side. _If Milo had been here, that would not still be standing_, Zack thought eying the crane.

He was suddenly aware of Melissa speaking in his ear again. "Zack-,"

"I don't know Melissa," replied Zack anxiously.

"Well, you're not Big Hero 6." It was the strange little man with the purple jacket and the leafy green hair who had spoken. There was a trace of a maniacal laugh in his voice. Zack immediately decided that he didn't like it.

Zack, Melissa, Amanda, Cavendish and Dakota all trade confused looks. They were all clearly thinking thing the same thing. _Big Hero who?_

"Sorry to disappoint you," replied Dakota, "but we have no idea what that is."

"We're just looking for our friend," added Amanda. "We thought he'd be here."

The little man blew an extra loud raspberry and cackled loudly. "Oh, I'm sorry little girl," he said sarcastically. He spread his arms wide. "As you can see, there's nobody here but us-,"

"-And us!"

Zack was suddenly buffeted by a blast of hot air. He turned and gaped open mouthed as a huge hulking robot in gleaming red armour touched down in the square behind them. A pair of slender wings sprouted from its shoulders and cradled several people in its arms. A figure in dressed in black and purple armour clung to its back.

Ferb gave an impressed whistle and Phineas nudged his stepbrother and said, "looks like he used your design after all."

Ferb gave a little nod. "Well, it looks like you were spot on about the colour."

Go Go and Honey Lemon dropped lightly down from where they had been perched on Baymax's back, on either side of Hiro. Go Go was wearing something that looked like a high tech cycling suit. She was covered from head to foot in yellow and black armour. She balanced nimbly on what appeared to something that looked a bit like a pair of rollerblades. On the back of her wrist gauntlets were a pair of nearly paper thin throwing discs. Her helmet sported a sleek, aerodynamic fin. Honey Lemon wore knee high boots, along with a breast, backplate and helmet with a face shield, all in matching shades of pink and lavender. If it weren't for all the armour she was wearing Zack though that she looked as casual as if she were planning on spending a day at the mall. A handbag was draped casually across her chest. It appeared to have some kind of outlet on one side, along with a keypad in the form of the periodic table. The armoured robot knelt down and deposited Wasabi, who was wearing jade green shoulder pads, gauntlets and greaves, and what Zack took to be some kind of robot gently on to the ground. The robot, or what ever it was, was blue and black, had three eyes and large, curving horns on its head. A smaller white robot was perched on its shoulder.

Hiro surveyed the square from where he was perched between Baymax's shoulders. In addition to Milo's friends and the rest of Big Hero 6, the only other people he could see in Night Market Square were Momokasse, Noodle Burger Boy and Mr. Sparkles. He made a mental note of the dozen or so Mayoi surrounding Mr. Sparkles. _Those things could be a problem if this gets out of hand_, he thought. There was no obvious sign of Milo or Karmi. He keyed his helmet mike. "Baymax, perform scan. See if anyone else is here."

Baymax's voice spoke soothingly in Hiro's ear. "What would you like me to scan for, Hiro?"

"Genetic anomalies and negative probability ions," replied Hiro, "and filter out Momokasse and Mr. Sparkle. We already know they've been genetically augmented."

"Understood," replied Baymax calmly. "Please stand by while I complete the scan."

Go Go's voice suddenly spoke in Hiro's ear. "Hiro, I have a bad feeling about this," she said.

Hiro nodded in agreement. "So do I," he said. He surveyed the square again. "Baymax, now we doin'?"

"Hiro, I have completed my scan," replied Baymax.

Information began to scroll down Hiro's head up display. Hiro quickly absorbed the information and keyed his helmet mike again. "Heads up," he said to the rest of the team. "Milo and Karmi are both here." Three blinking icons appeared in on his heads up display. One was emanating a strong negative probability field. The other two were genetic anomalies. _Wait,_ thought Hiro, _two? _He gestured subtly with his hands swiping aside the icon that was Milo and zooming in on the two genetic mutants. One was definitely was Karmi. The other one was, "Orso Knox?" said Hiro, mostly to himself. He had momentarily forgotten that he was on an open channel.

"Wait, Hiro," asked Honey Lemon, "are you sure?"

"Positive," said Hiro. He sent them the genetic signature.

"Ohhhhhh," said Fred, "unexpected plot twist. These are always the best. You never know what's going to happen next."

"Yeah we do," cut in Wasabi. "The last time we had to fight Knox, we got pasted remember? And why is he here anyway?"

"No idea," replied Hiro. He eyed Milo's friends. "We need to get them out of here. This smells like a set up." He suddenly had an idea. He swiped through several menus until he found his contact list. He gestured again, scrolled down the list of names until he found, "Flynn, Phineas." He tapped "call." In his ear piece he heard the sound of ringing. More distantly, he heard the muffled sound of Phineas' ringtone. _The _Duck-tective _Theme_, thought Hiro in surprise, _I never would have taken him for a fan._ He watched as Phineas pulled his phone out of his pocket and put it to his ear.

"Hiro?" asked Phineas, "where are you? I thought you were going to meet us here?"

"I'm behind you with Baymax," replied Hiro.

The young genius started to say something, but only got as far as, "I-," before Hiro cut him off.

"Listen carefully," Hiro continued, "this whole situation smells. I'm sending you some data." Hiro was gesturing as he spoke. "Milo is definitely here somewhere, but Baymax can't pinpoint his exact location."

"Why not?" asked Phineas. He cast his eyes around the square, mentally assessing possible hiding places and how long it might take to search them all.

"Not sure," replied Hiro. "It could just be all the buildings, or something else, but either way, it's not safe for you to be here."

Phineas nodded and hung up. He shared a momentary look with Ferb, as if something significant had been confirmed, then turned to the others. "It's not a good idea for us to stay here," he said. "Hiro sent me some data he thinks can help us find Milo," explained Phineas.

"But how can he know that if he isn't here?" asked Cavendish.

"There isn't time to explain," replied Phineas. He started walking and the others began to follow him. They had barely gone ten steps when they heard a slightly squeaky, high pitched voice.

"Where ya going Mister?" They all stopped and turned at the sound. It was the little corporate mascot robot who had spoken "Your order's up Mister," it said.

They all looked at each other, slightly confused. Melissa opened her mouth to say something, but before she could say anything several things happened at all once. They were all suddenly bathed in a harsh white light and buffeted by the rotor wash of a helicopter. A voice spoke over a loud speaker. _"Attention Big Hero 6! This is the San Fransokyo Police! You are in violation of a police quarantine! You are required to vacate the area immediately, or you will be arrested!"_

Later, Zack thought he remembered the strange little man in the spangly purple jacket say something like, "finally, this party is getting interesting." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cavendish go sailing through the air and land in a heap on the pavement about twenty feet away. He turned just in time for something large and green to grab him. It was one of the Mayoi. Somehow, the strange plant-like creatures had gone from being the size of a small dog, to being at least eight feet tall. Zack started to say, "what the hell?" but he never got the words out because it suddenly grabbed him by the shoulder straps of Milo's backpack and threw him as if he were a doll. The world spun crazily and he landed hard enough to forcibly drive the air from his lungs. Zack lay still for a second checking for injuries. There was blood in his mouth. He spat it out and spat a molar at the same time. Something hot and sticky was dripping into his left eye and Zack realized that he had a bad cut on his forehead. He sat up in time to see something large and grey come crashing through a concrete wall into the square. The air was filled with cries and shouting.

As Zack got to his feet, Baymax thrust out a gauntleted hand and pointed it at the grey monster rampaging around the square. The armoured fist suddenly detached from the big robot's arm at the wrist. It flew straight for approximately fifty feet, then suddenly veered off course, corkscrewing wildly through the battling figures. _That's definitely Milo,_ thought Zack. Wasabi was engaged in a duel with Momokasse. Her graphene sword blade flashed through the air in a translucent blue arc as she slashed at Wasabi. A glowing plasma sword had appeared in his right fist. He parried her attack and then blocked with the energy shield in his other hand as she stabbed at him with a chef's knife. A long gun barrel had appeared from Honey Lemon's hand bag and she was firing multicoloured balls in what seemed to Zack to be several directions at once, striking the grey beast with what appeared to be some sort of pink goo, as it charged at Baymax, whose right hand had since been reattached. She shot a lavender something at one of the Mayoi, which froze and shattered, sending bits of Mayoi flying everywhere.

Zack was distracted by the sound of running, as the three-eyed robot with horns vaulted into twenty feet into the air and landed in the midst of the meelee spewing flames. Melissa ran up. "Zack, are you OK?"

With some difficulty, Zack pulled his eyes away from the sight of the small white robot as it went streaking across the square, flames shooting out of the bottom of feet, barrelling into the other robot which leapt into a corkscrewing backflip, its head spinning a full three hundred and sixty degrees on its neck. It was shooting lasers out of its eyes and singing.

I'd do anything for a Noodle Burger

Cause Noodle Burgers are really swell

If I could I'd marry Noodle Burger

Cause Noodle Burger rings my bell!

Zack paused momentarily to wipe away some of the blood that was trickling into his eye. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said, "I think." Dakota was hauling Cavendish to his feet. Phineas and Ferb were pelting toward them with Amanda following closely behind them.

"This the most insane situation Murphy's Law has ever landed us in,"said Zack.

Melissa nodded. "Yeah, we need to get out of here and find Milo," she said.

"OK, but where is he?" asked Zack. He told Melissa what he had seen. "I'm pretty sure he's here somewhere, but there are a lot of buildings to search."

Before Melissa could answer, Phineas came pelting toward them, waving his his phone. "Zack! Melissa!" he shouted, "I think I know where Milo is."

"Really? How did you-," began Melissa.

Phineas cut her off. "No time to explain," he said quickly. He turned and pointed at a tall, half built skyscraper. "He's somewhere in there."

Zack, Melissa and Amanda all traded a look. They were all thinking the same thing. _A construction site, of course. _They set off toward the building, skirting around the edge of the battle. Zack felt the heat of an errant laser beam on the back of his neck, and pulled Melissa back just in time as a black and yellow throwing disc buried itself in a wall where her head had been a second before. Before any of them could move, a beam of blue-white energy cut across their path, pulling the throwing disc out of the wall. A hole yawned in the chain link fence surrounding the construction site. As they approached the hole, Zack felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. At the same instant, a loud sound like the _CRACK! _of a gunshot echoed from somewhere overhead. They all looked up at the sound and saw a large bundle of structural steel plummeting downward rapidly. At the same time, metal strapping began to hit the ground all around them with a loud clatter as they hit the pavement.

Dakota shouted, "everybody go!" The tall construction crane was leaning precariously. Zack could hear the sound of creaking metal as its structural supports buckled. Bolts began to break and went whizzing past them, ricocheting off of the exposed steel and concrete like bullets. Dakota was shouting again."It's coming down! Go! Go, go, go!" They ran for the cover of the unfinished building as the crane collapsed into a pile of twisted wreckage with a deafening crash.

Milo was _definitely_ here. Somewhere.


	30. Chapter 30

Episode Forty Three

Zack's ears were still ringing from the sound of all the rent and twisted metal crashing to the ground. He saw something move out of the corner of his eye. Something instinctively told him to move. As he did so, something with a long mane of dark hair, a feral face, skin like fish scales and gaping red gills suddenly burst from among the scattered pallets of tools and building supplies. It was Karmi. She uttered a feral snarl as Zack interposed himself between Karmi and Melissa. Karmi barrelled into Zack. The two of them tumbled to the bare concrete floor. Karmi snarled again. She brandished her long slender talons and slashed at Zack's face. Without thinking, Zack reached out and grabbed for her wrist. She was much stronger than she looked, he realized. Her pointed claws were only a few millimetres from his eyeballs and then a shadow fell over them and she was being pulled off of him. Cavendish stuck out a hand. Zack took it and the tall time agent pulled him to his feet.

"Are you alright?" asked Cavendish.

Zack took a deep steadying breath. He was suddenly aware of the rapid beating of his heart. It was the second time in less than fifteen minutes that someone had asked him that, he realized. Zack nodded. He suddenly felt slightly unsteady. "I-uhhh-yeah, Cavendish, l'm fine."

The time agent looked sceptical, but before he could say anything, they were both distracted by the sounds of a violent scuffle. They both turned to find Hiro and Wasabi grappling with Karmi. Hiro was flat on his back. He had Karmi's arms pinned behind her back and his legs were wrapped around her waist in a leg lock, but she was struggling violently. Zack thought she looked to on the verge of wriggling out of Hiro's grip. He grunted as she fought his hold. Wasabi was circling Hiro and Karmi as the, wrestled on the ground, with his plasma sword in his hand.

Cavendish gently pulled Zack away from Hiro who was still grappling with Karmi. "Come on, Zack," he said. "Milo's definitely here somewhere. We need to find him before someone gets hurt."

"How do we do that?" asked Zack. "We know Milo's here somewhere, but how do we find him?"

Cavendish looked thoughtful for a moment as he pondered the question, then an idea came to him. He gestured for everyone to stop moving and gather round. "We need to find Milo before he hurts himself or someone else."

"How do we do that?" asked Melissa,"when we don't know where to look."

"We need to spread out," replied Cavendish. "We'll be able to cover more ground that way-."

"Cavendish," interrupted Dakota, "are you sure that's a good idea? Look at what that Karmi kid almost did to Zack."

The tall time agent nodded. "You are quite correct, Dakota," replied Cavendish, "We'll break into groups. Milo is definitely not himself at the moment." He paused for second or two. "We can't be certain that he'll recognize us. It might not be safe to be alone with him in his current state."

They divided into groups and fanned out into the maze of steel and concrete. The building site was mostly dark. Here and there light from the surrounding buildings left pools of neon light amidst the shadows. Zack had found himself paired with Dakota. The time agent's sunglasses had reacquired their electronic green glow. The light from Zack's flashlight seemed feeble in the semi-darkness. They threaded their way among the bare steel and concrete. Tool carts and pallets of building materials cast weird shadows everywhere. They were walking quietly and slowly, listening for the slightest sound. Zack felt as though Milo's backpack was weighing heavily on his shoulders again. He surreptitiously tried to shrug Milo's backpack higher on to his shoulders to bear the weight better.

Dakota seemed to notice because he turned to Zack and said, "you've wearing that since yesterday afternoon. Let me take it."

Zack shook his head, somewhat defiantly. "No, I'll be OK," he said.

"Are you sure?" asked Dakota, "that looks heavy."

Zack shook his head again. "It's not that bad," he insisted.

It was Dakota's turn to shake his head. "Zack," he said, "you don't need to prove anything to anyone," and before Zack could stop him, Dakota took Milo's backpack and slung it over his shoulders. The time agent felt the weight settle on to his shoulders. _Fertilize me_, Dakota thought to himself, _Milo must have packed forty pounds of gear._

Zack felt his shoulders lighten as their burden was lifted. He suddenly and unaccountably felt as if he was naked. _Calm down, Zack_, he thought to himself. _Dakota is here and he has Milo's backpack. _Zack drew in a breath and let it out slowly. _Everything's fine_, he told himself, _except that your best friend was kidnapped by a creepy corporation and turned into a weird mutant_, he reminded himself. _And you have no idea if he can be-_. With some difficulty, Zack stopped himself from finishing the thought that had been in his head. _No! _Zack thought to himself emphatically. _We are going to find Milo, he's going to be alright and we're going to go home._ He looked around. On the other side of the building site, Zack could the the electronic green glow Cavendish's night vision googles. In the other direction, the semi-darkness was cut by a cone of light from Ferb's flashlight. Phineas was using the flashlight function on his phone.

Zack and Dakota stopped to listen again. Zack thought he heard a shuffling noise. He turned to Dakota and started to say, "I think I heard something," but before he could get the words out, several things happened at once. The hair on the back of Zack's neck stood up in warning, at the same moment, his flashlight died. As the darkness descended on them, Zack heard Dakota say, "hey! What the-!"

"What happened?" Zack whispered. He was speaking in a low voice, trying to listen for the shuffling noise again.

Dakota shook his head. "I'm not sure," he said. "My glasses just went out."

"Forget to recharge the battery?" asked Zack.

Dakota shook his head. "No, I-," a sudden thought struck him. "Zack, have you got your phone?"

Zack nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

"Check your battery"

Zack fished his phone out of his pocket. He tapped his password into his screen and immediately got a low battery warning. "The battery in my phone is almost dead. I had almost a full charge a couple of hours ago."

"Has your phone ever been affected by Murphy's Law before?"

Zack thought for a second or two. "I don't think so," he replied. "Milo breaks his phone a couple times a week, but-,"

"Turn off your flashlight," said Dakota suddenly.

Zack was confused, "What, why?"

"Turn it off, " said Dakota again, "and we might be able to-." He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. Zack's flashlight died of its own accord. At the same moment he heard a feral snarl, the sound of metal scraping on bare concrete and Dakota shouting, _"DUCK!"_ Zack felt himself being pushed to the floor and Dakota landing on top of him as a tool cart went sailing through the air and landed with a loud crash somewhere in the darkness. Zack felt himself being pulled to his feet as Dakota rolled off of him. By the time Zack had got to his feet, his eyes had adjusted to the semi-darkness and he spied a familiar hazy blue aura.

The hazy glow of Milo's negative probability field looked brighter to Zack than it had earlier, but he wasn't sure if that was just his imagination or not. From where he was standing, Zack could see the others turning in reaction to the noise and a sudden realization struck him. They were all about to converge on Milo at once, leaving him cornered. In his current state, Milo not be capable of recognizing his closest friends. _Somebody could get hurt_, thought Zack.

"Dakota-," Zack began.

But the time agent seemed to have reached the same conclusion at almost the same time, because he motioned to Zack and said, "c'mon, this way." They picked their way through the various obstacles and somehow managed not to walk into anything in the dark. A couple times Zack checked his phone, in the hope that he might be able to text Melissa or Amanda to tell them to give Milo some space, but his battery was still dead. He guessed that the AR functions in Dakota's sunglasses were still disabled as well. They rounded a corner, paused and looked around. They couldn't see anything.

"Have we lost Milo?" Zack whispered.

Dakota nodded. "I think so," he said. "We should retrace our steps and-." He stopped suddenly. He had thought he had heard the sudden sharp intake of breath and the sound of shuffling footsteps. At the same moment the time agent suddenly felt all the hair on the back of his neck stand up as though an electric current were running through his body and a split second later a ghostly tendril of probability knocked Dakota off his feet. Dakota was momentarily winded and he saw stars as the back of his head hit the concrete. Zack saw a familiar silhouette and leapt over Dakota's prone form.

Heedless of his surroundings, Zack started running, dodging through the maze of tool carts, spools of cable, bundles of piping and pallets of building supplies. _It's time to end this_, he thought. He back peddled suddenly as a bundle of pipes suddenly burst from its strapping and had to sidestep quickly to avoid an out of control tool cart. Zack just barely avoided being buried under an avalanche of cement mix as he came around a corner. Zack paused momentarily. Not far away from Milo were several large tanks of propane. They were leaning against a thick concrete pillar. Ordinarily, that wouldn't really matter, but Zack reasoned that Milo and propane was probably a really bad mix. He took a deep breath. Cavendish had warned them all that Milo might not recognize them and that it might be more dangerous than usual be around him. _At some point we have to try to talk to him,_ thought Zack with a mental shrug, _might as well be now._

"Milo?" asked Zack. His voice seemed extra loud in the semi-darkness. "Are you in there, buddy?" Zack stood very, very still, hardly breathing, wondering what Milo would do.

Milo's head snapped around at the sound of his name. His eyes glowed luminously in the semi-darkness and Zack suddenly felt uneasy. _This may have been a very bad idea_, he thought. Milo opened his mouth and a deep guttural snarl came out of Milo's mouth. _"Zack," _Milo growled, _"help me."_ At the same moment, Zack was shocked to discover that he could almost understand what Milo was saying.

He suddenly realized that his heart was beating very, very quickly. Zack's mouth was dry and he swallowed. His eyes flicked from Milo to the tanks of propane and acetylene. _I've got to get him away from those, _he thought. "Yeah, buddy," he said slowly, "we want to help you. I've got Melissa and Amanda and Phineas and-." From somewhere to his left he heard footsteps. It hadn't occurred to Zack that the others would hear all the crashes and bangs of the various thrown and falling objects and come running. Milo was bathed in a cone of yellow light from a flashlight. Zack tried to wave off Melissa, to give Milo some space, but it was too late, the moment of connection was broken.

Milo turned and with a wordless roar, he lunged at Melissa. Zack was already moving. He was only vaguely aware of Cavendish, Dakota, Amanda, Phineas and Ferb. He barrelled into Milo as he was about to collide with Melissa and the two boys tumbled to the bare concrete. At the exact same moment, the concrete floor gave way and Zack suddenly realized that he was falling. In the same instant, he heard a loud hiss and a series of metallic bangs, along with numerous shouts and cries, and the propane and acetylene tanks burst and went rocketing all over the place. He heard a dull crump and an orange flash as one of the acetylene cylinders exploded somewhere in the distance. Then the floor of the sewer tunnel beneath rushed up to meet them.


	31. Chapter 31

Episode Forty Four

Zack hit the concrete with a jarring thud that made his teeth rattle. Stars burst in front of his eyes and the air was forcibly driven from his lungs as Milo landed on top of him. Zack lay very still for several seconds, slightly amazed that he was still alive. Milo wasn't moving. Zack gently pushed Milo off of him and tried to sit up. Everything hurt and his vision swam momentarily. He winced as his muscles protested loudly. Zack felt nauseous and he was pretty sure he had a concussion.

"_Zack?! Are you OK?"_

Zack was suddenly bathed in a pool of yellow light and looked up to see Melissa pointing a flashlight down at him. He nodded. "Yeah, I'm OK," he called up.

"_What about Milo?" _asked Amanda. _"Is he-." _She broke off, her concern was palpable in her voice and she couldn't bring herself finish her sentence.

Zack turned and looked at Milo, who was still unconscious. "I don't know," he called up. "Let me check." He took hold of Milo, rolled him onto his back and ran his hands over Milo's arms and legs, checking for broken bones. Milo's left leg stuck out at an odd angle and Zack guessed that it was broken. He put his ear to Milo's chest and heard the faint beating of his heart. The steady throb of Milo's heartbeat allowed Zack to relax, at least a little, despite his aches and pains. Milo was at least alive, and this wasn't the first time he had broken his leg, but whether or not the rest of what had been done to him could be undone, was a question that Zack didn't even know how to begin to answer. "I need Milo's backpack," he called up, "Milo has a broken leg. He usually packs bandages and splints in his first aid kit."

Dakota nodded. _"We'll be right down,"_ he said.

When they arrived where at the spot where Zack and Milo had landed after after their fall, it was with Hiro and Baymax in tow. Zack immediately jumped from where he had been sitting next Milo's unconscious form. He took Milo's backpack from Dakota, and together with Melissa, quickly rifled through it until he found Milo's first aid kit and extracted a splint and some bandages. As Melissa took the bandages and a splint from Zack, he noticed that her hands were shaking slightly and she was focusing intently on Milo's leg and not looking anywhere else.

Zack put hand on her shoulder. "It's going to be OK," he said. He couldn't decide of he was saying it because Melisa needed to hear it, or because he wanted to believe it himself.

"Is it?" asked Melissa, "I mean how do we even-" she trailed off, as if she didn't want to think about it.

Zack shook his head, "I don't know," he said, "but he's in there somewhere."

Melissa momentarily stopped what she was doing. She stared at Zack. "How do you know that?" she asked.

Zack tried to shrug, but it hurt too much and he stopped with a grimace. "He talked me," he said, "or tried to at any rate. He asked me to help him."

Melissa slowly let out a breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding. She was about to say something when Hiro knelt down opposite Zack and Melissa. He cast an eye over Milo's scaly features. "Baymax, perform scan."

"What would you like me to scan for Hiro?" asked Baymax.

He eyed the splint that Melissa had applied to Milo's leg. "Scan for injuries," he said after a moment, "and scan for active parasynths."

The blue laser grid appeared, tracing over over Milo's body from head to foot. "Milo has multiple internal bruises, a concussion and his leg is broken in two places," replied Baymax.

Hiro nodded. "And what about the parasynths?" he asked.

"The parasynths are in a state of low activity," said the big robot calmly.

"So, is it safe to move him?" asked Zack.

"I believe it is," answered Baymax. "I have already called 911."

Zack didn't really have a clear recollection of what happened after that. He vaguely remembered Baymax gently lifting Milo as he were made of glass and walking down the long sewer tunnel feeling dizzy and tired. When they emerged into the open air, an ambulance and two paramedics had been waiting for them. Baymax gently deposited Milo on to a quickly checked his vitals and loaded him into the back of the ambulance. They then turned to Zack. They cleaned the cut on his forehead, bundled him into the back of the ambulance and made him lie down next to Milo. Zack figured he must have blacked out completely after that because he didn't remember anything else.

By the time Milo woke up, it was mid-morning. A bright shaft of sunlight was streaming through a window. A TV was mounted on a wall bracket in a corner. It was turned down very, very low. Milo had to strain to hear the newscaster.

"_Big Hero 6 appeared in Night Market Square late last night, along with Momokasse, Mr. Sparkles and Noodle Burger Boy-."_

"Hey, buddy, glad to see you back to normal."

Milo started slightly and looked around to see who had spoken. "Zack? What the-I-what happened? And where's my backpack? And my body armour?"He looked down at himself. He had suddenly realized that he was wearing a hospital gown over his underwear and nothing else. A second a later he realized that Zack was attired in the same way. There were stitches above his left eye. "Oh," he said looking sheepishly at Zack's stitches, "did I do that? I'm-."

Zack waved away his apology. "No, it's OK, Milo," he replied, "this wasn't Murphy's Law. I was thrown by, well, I'm not really sure what it was exactly."

Milo looked at his left leg, which was in a cast. "Where are we?" he asked, "and when did I break my leg? And-."

"How much do you remember?" asked Zack.

Milo thought for a second, trying to piece together what had happened to him. "Well, I remember being in a field in Danville with you. Then I blacked out. When I woke up, I was in that creepy lab, then I must have blacked out again. The next thing I remember was I in some kind of jail cell, and you guys showed up with my backpack." Milo paused. He had suddenly realized that his backpack was missing. "Where is my backpack?" he asked.

"Oh," replied Zack, "Dakota has it. Do you remember anything after that?" asked Zack.

Milo shook his head."No," he said, "I don't remember anything else until now."

Just then, the door opened and a gaggle of people piled into the room. Melissa and Amanda pushed through the little knot of people and threw their arms around Milo, almost knocking him backward on to his pillows. "Milo,"said Amanda, "thank god you're OK-."

Melissa nodded, "-yeah," she said. She took a steadying breath. "We were really worried about you."

Milo surveyed his friends. Ferb's nose was wrapped in bandages, Phineas's right arm was in a cast and there were bandages around his chest under his orange and white striped T-shirt. There was a lump on Dakota's temple and Cavendish had a black eye. They all looked disheveled, grimy and tired. After they had been patched up at the hospital, and Milo had been taken off to have the parasynths removed, Hiro, who had already been working with Karmi on a way to deactivate and remove the parasynths when she had been taken, had been able quickly develop an effective procedure for restoring Karmi and Milo. Afterwards, he had taken the others the his aunt's café, The Lucky Cat. Zack had wanted to go with them insisting that he was fine, but the ER doctor who had examined him insisted that he needed to stay in the hospital overnight for observation, due to his concussion.

Milo's nose wrinkled instinctively. They all carried the strong odour of a sewer. "So, what happened to you guys?" asked Milo. It took them half an hour to fill Milo in on everything he had missed. They took turns telling the story, but as if by unspoken consent Zack did most of the talking. When they were finished talking, Milo couldn't help but feel a little unaccountably guilty. He knew that the thought was irrational as soon as it occurred to him. He was, as ever, grateful that Zack, Melissa, Amanda, Cavendish, Dakota, Phineas and Ferb had flown across the country to look for him, but at the same time he couldn't help but feel a little bit responsible for what they had gone through anyway. Milo's thought's were interrupted by the sound of the door opening again. Everyone's head turned to see a boy of around Milo's age with a slender build, a dark blue hoodie, knee length cargo shorts, battered running shoes and an unruly mop of black hair. Wasabi, Honey Lemon and Baymax followed Hiro into the room.

"Hi," he said, "mind if we join you?"

"Oh, hi, Hiro," said Phineas. He turned to Milo. "Milo, this is Hiro Hamada. He's a friend of ours and he helped us find you."

Hiro shrugged. "It actually wasn't that hard," he said. "Baljeet's tracking algorithm needed some fine tuning, but it worked pretty well overall."

"What happened to you guys after we left Sycorax?" asked Zack. "I thought you were going to meet us at Night Market Square."

Hiro suddenly looked a little uncomfortable, and Zack once again had the sense that there was more the Hiro than he let on. He remembered the conversation that they had had with Phineas and Ferb and he thought he saw Melissa and Amanda exchange a look. He guessed that they still had the same questions about Hiro that he did.

"Yeah, we're really sorry about that," said Honey Lemon, with what appeared to be a slight pained look on her face.

Hiro shrugged. "We were caught up in the police cordon and they wouldn't let us through."

"So what happened to you guys after we got separated?" asked Wasabi.

For the second time in forty-minutes, Zack told them what happened. Wasabi suppressed a slight shudder and seemed to want to throw up a little. "I can't imagine anything worse than having to go down into the sewer."

Milo shrugged in response. "We end up in the sewer in Danville fairly often," he said. Wasabi shuddered again.

"Oh, that reminds me-," said Dakota.

Melissa nodded. "Yeah," she said. "Doctor Zone filter masks? Really, Milo?"

Milo chuckled. "I'm just glad they came in handy," he said.

"There's one other thing we found out," said Dakota slowly. Cavendish, Dakota and Melissa exchanged a significant look.

"What?" asked Milo.

Melissa took a deep breath. "We think that Cavendish and Dakota saved our lives."

Milo's face wore a look of momentary confusion. "What, yesterday?" he asked, "Yeah, thanks for tha-."

Melissa shook her head. "No, Milo," she said. "I meant when we were six."

Ten seconds of ringing silence fell over the room. Melissa thought that Milo looked a little like a deer caught in on coming headlights. He looked back and forth between Melissa and Cavendish and Dakota. "But, I-how did you-," he began.

Melissa shrugged and nodded at Hiro. "Hiro asked us how we become friends, so we told him."

Cavendish nodded. "Our story tallies perfectly with yours," he said. "A most remarkable coincidence."

"Yeah," said Dakota, nodding in agreement, "that's a weird coincidence."

"What," asked Milo, "does this mean something?"

"As we've been banned from using time travel, its hard to say for sure," replied Dakota, "but no it probably doesn't mean anything."


	32. Chapter 32

Episode Forty Five

At that moment, the door opened and a tall, thin man with with a few wisps of grey hair, a long pointed nose, a lab coat and glasses entered the room. A stethoscope stuck out of his pocket. He exuded an air of quiet competence. He pulled the two charts from a holder by the door. "Milo Murphy and Zack Underwood?"

"Yes," replied Milo and Zack together.

"My name is Dr. Dunwood," he said. "I'll be your attending physician." He flipped through their charts, examining the notes that the admitting nurse and the ER doctor had made in the small hours of the morning.

Name: Underwood, Zachary Alan Butler

Age: 14

Date of Birth: July 14, 2002

Height: 5' 6"

Weight: 112 pounds

Blood type: A-

Allergies: None

Pre-existing conditions: None

Notes:

Fourteen year old African-American male was admitted to San Fransokyo General Hospital at 01:33 AM along with patient designated M Murphy following an encounter with the vigilante superhero team known as Big Hero 6 and the following known supervillains:

Momokasse

Mr. Sparkles

Noodle Burger Boy

Patient was admitted with symptoms consistent with a grade four concussion, numerous contusions and a laceration above the left eye.

Patient was examined for additional injuries. None determined to be present.

Patient was given twelve stitches for facial laceration and admitted to hospital for observation of additional symptoms in relation to concussion.

A signature had been scribbled at the bottom.

Dr. Dunwood pulled a small penlight out of a pocket and shone it in Zack's eyes. He watched carefully as Zack's pupils dilated in response to the stimulus. He scribbled some notes on Zack's chart. He put the penlight away and held up his index finger. Zack's eyes slowly moved back and forth in response. He scribbled some more notes. "I'd like to ask you some questions, if that's alright," said Dr. Dunwood.

Zack nodded. "Sure," he said.

"Have you experience any headaches?" asked Dr. Dunwood.

"No," replied Zack.

Dr. Dunwood scribbled some notes. "How about dizziness?"

"A little," replied Zack. Dr. Dunwood kept scribbling.

"Have you experienced any sensory sensitivity?" asked Dr. Dunwood.

"No," answered Zack. More scribbling.

"Balance issues?"

Zack shook his head. "I don't think so." Still more scribbling.

Dr. Dunwood examined Zack's medical chart again. "Your chart says that you're from Danville, is that right?"

Zack nodded. "My regular doctor is my Mom," he said, guessing at Dr. Dunwood's next question. "She's a trauma surgeon with Danville Municipal Hospital." He rattled off Dr. Underwood's work e-mail and phone number as Dr. Dunwood continued to scribble quickly.

Dr. Dunwood stopped writing and looked at Zack's chart again. "Based on these notes, you seem to be in relatively good health," he said. "I'm going to recommend keeping you in the hospital for one or two more days just to be on the safe side, but no longer than that."

Zack shrugged. "OK," he said.

Dr. Dunwood replaced Zack's chart in the holder by the door and turned to Milo. He quickly glanced through Milo's chart.

Name: Murphy, Milo Danger

Age: 14

Date of Birth: October 24, 2003

Height: 5' 3"

Weight: 96 pounds

Blood type: O+

Allergies: None

Pre-Existing Conditions: Extreme Hereditary Murphy's Law

Notes:

Fourteen year old Caucasian male was admitted to San Fransokyo General Hospital at 01:33 AM along with patient designated Z Underwood.

Patient was admitted with symptoms consistent with an extreme physiological and genetic transformation, in addition to substantial internal bruising and fractures in the tibia and the fibula in the left leg. The patient's presumed legal guardians, B Cavendish and V Dakota, described witnessing the patient transform from natural state to a state described as that of a reptile-human hybrid almost instantly.

They additionally claim that the situation was complicated by the existence of a pre-existing condition known as EHML, which causes the sufferer's body to emit a field of negative probability ions, which automatically skews all outcomes toward negative results.

The patient's mutated state was reversed with the application of an experimental treatment of nanobots designed to undo the physiological and genetic effects of the initial mutation.

Due to the unusual of the nature of the patient's illness, treatment and pre-existing condition additional follow-up tests are recommended.

Dr. Dunwood proceeded to ask Milo a much longer and more detailed list of questions than he had asked of Zack, who interjected several times with answers of his own, all of which Dr, Dunwood dutifully wrote down. After a solid half hour of questioning Milo, along with additional questions for Hiro, Cavendish and Dakota, Dr. Dunwood ran his eye down his extensive notes. After a second or two, Dr. Dunwood scribbled a few final notes. "Milo, I'm going to recommend that you stay in the hospital for a few days. I'd like to run some additional tests, just to be sure we haven't missed anything. Do you have a family doctor?"

Milo nodded. "His name is Dr. Gardner." Milo rattled off Dr. Gardner's phone number and e-mail.

"You can also talk to my Mom," interjected Zack, "she's familiar with Milo's situation."

Dr. Dunwood nodded and made a couple of final notes on Milo's chart. "The orderlies will probably come to get you this afternoon," he said. He strode to the door, replaced Milo's chart in the holder on the wall with Zack's and went out.

The orderlies came to collect Milo an hour after lunch. He pushed aside his lunch tray and levered himself out bed and into the wheelchair parked next to his hospital bed. It collapsed with a clatter of metal and Milo landed on the floor with a thump that send a jolt of pain shoot through his broken leg.

"Ow!" he said with a slight grimace.

Zack turned his attention away from the episode of _Cash Wheel_ on the TV in the corner. A boy in a blue and white baseball hat had landed on "Cash Tsunami," and was deluged in tidal wave of money. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and planted his feet on the linoleum floor. It was slight cold. "You OK, Milo?"

Milo nodded. The throbbing pain in his leg had subsided a little. "Yeah. I'm fine," he said.

The two orderlies surveyed their charge, sitting splay legged on the floor surrounded by the wreckage of his wheelchair. "I…," said the tall one.

"Yeah," said the short one in surprise. "That's never happened before. The wheelchair must have been defective."

Milo shook his head. "No, it wasn't defective," he said.

The two orderlies looked confused and Zack and Milo both chuckled. "This was Murphy's Law," replied Milo. "Zack, do you mind helping me up?"

"Sure thing, buddy."

That jogged the two orderlies. "No," they said to Zack, "you're not supposed to over exert yourself." They knelt down and on the count of three gently lifted Milo to his feet. He wobbled slightly, putting most of his weight on his right foot. He almost fell again until Zack thrust his shoulder under Milo's right arm and guided him over to the edge of Milo's hospital bed. With something solid under him, Milo was able to take most of his body weight off of his bad leg. The two orderlies disappeared and cam back ten minutes later. They were both pushing an empty wheelchair. Milo slowly lowered himself into the closest one and everyone waited for something to happen. When nothing did, the orderlies secured Milo's broken leg to ensure that it wouldn't move or collide with anything and wheeled him out of the room.

The neurology unit was only four floors down, but it took forty five minutes to get there. The elevator broke down twice and extracting Milo and the two orderlies was complicated by Milo's broken leg. Eventually, Milo was wheeled into the examination room. The room was slightly chilly and Milo felt goosebumps run up his arms. An array of surgical lights on an articulated arm hung from the middle of the ceiling. A long stainless steel table stood along one of the room's tiled walls bearing various pieces of medical equipment. Several high definition TV monitors hung on the opposite wall. In the middle of the room, in a bright pool of light cast by the surgical lights, stood a metal chair. The whiff of bleach hung in the air and made Milo's nostrils burn slightly. The two orderlies wheeled Milo into the middle of the room. They helped him out of his wheelchair and he hobbled over to the metal chair and levered himself into it. The metal was slightly cold on the backs of his legs and Milo shivered slightly as he sat down. The two orderlies turned and left.

From somewhere behind him, Milo heard a door open, then close and accompanied by the sound of foot steps on the linoleum floor. A slightly heavy set woman in with short blond hair walked into his field of view. She was wearing a lab coat over hospital pants and a T-shirt. She glanced at the clipboard in her hands and quickly glanced through her notes. "Hello, Milo," she said. "My name is Dr. Wendover. How are you feeling today?"

"Fine," replied Milo with a shrug, "well," he amended, "aside from my leg." He nodded to indicate his cast.

"And how did you break your leg?"

"I don't really remember," replied Milo. "I was not exactly myself at the time." He suddenly felt a little uncomfortable again. Zack had explained how he had to interpose himself between Milo and Melissa when Milo had tried to attack her. Milo wasn't sure he could have lived with himself if any of his friends had gotten hurt. _Except someone did get hurt,_ Milo reminded himself. Zack had a concussion. _He'll be fine, _Milo thought. Almost as soon as the thought occurred to him, Milo thought,_ that's not really the point._

Dr. Wendover scribbled some notes on her clipboard. "Milo, I'd like to ask you a few questions before we begin, OK?"

Milo nodded. "OK, Dr. Wendover."

Dr. Wendover proceeded to ask Milo a long list of questions. Including some of the same questions that he had answered for , but he answered them again anyway. After about twenty minutes of questioning, she stopped writing, glanced through her notes and looked up at Milo. "OK, Milo," she said, nodding to the technician who was standing out of Milo's field of view. The hi-def TV monitors came to life. "We're going to run a few neurological tests. Nothing invasive, all routine, just to make there are lasting side effects from your mutation, OK?"

Milo nodded in understanding. Dr. Wendover nodded to the technician and placed a pair of electrodes on Milo's forehead. He heard the sound of clicking keys as the technician entered commands into his computer via the keyboard.

"OK, Milo," said Dr. Wendover, "I just want you to looked at the TV monitor. I'm going to show you a series of images. All you need to do is look at them while I record your responses." She took the leads and plugged them into the EKG machine which stood on a metal table next Milo's chair. She plugged them in to a port on the side of the machine and turned it on. Milo could hear the slow scratching of a stylus On the wall, the monitor began to display a series of random image and abstract shapes. They flicked by slowly at first, then faster and faster. They became more complex and began to appear in different parts of the screen. They moved back and forth changed colours and orientation. The test was approximately when the TV monitor flickered once or twice then went blank. Dr. Wendover opened her mouth say something to the technician, when the the TV monitor suddenly fell to the floor with a loud crash and the tinkling sound of breaking glass.

Milo started slightly. He had been slightly mesmerized by the increasingly abstract parade images and shapes. "Oh, I'm sorry-," he began.

"Was that-?" began Dr. Wendover.

Milo shrugged and nodded. "Murphy's Law? Yeah."


	33. Chapter 33

Episode Forty Six

Zack was discharged from the hospital the next day, the doctors having determined that he had suffered nothing than the usually side effects of a mild concussion. Milo stayed in the hospital for almost a full week. Over the course of the next several days, under Dr. Dunwood's supervision, Milo was subjected to a full battery of tests. In addition to the neurological tests he had undergone with Dr. Wendover, Dr. Dunwood had ordered a complete work-up, starting with a full physical. Milo had been weighed and measured and made to stand in only his cast as he was examined from head to foot, including the embarrassing parts he preferred not to think about. Milo was also subjected to a number of specialized test. Milo was injected with barium, which made him feel as though he was walking around with a bowling ball in his abdomen. Milo's abdomen was then X-rayed, along with his broken leg, which was found to be healing well. He was given an eye exam, which confirmed that he had 20/20 eyesight. They took tissue biopsies, as well blood and other fluid samples, all of which cause no end of chaos in the lab. When the hematologists tried to put Milo's blood sample in a centrifuge to separate the plasma from the platelets, the latent negative probability field in Milo's red blood cells caused the centrifuge to spin itself to pieces. A sample of muscle tissue taken from Milo's forearm result in a microscope that refused to focus properly and another that had to be sent for repairs when all of its lenses cracked.

Milo's friends came to visit him every day, which he appreciated. On the third day of his stay in the hospital, Dakota had snuck him a bag of fast food from Noodle Burger, for which Milo had been grateful. He had found that being cooped up in the hospital and subjected to what seemed like an endless barrage of tests had left him feeling a little stir crazy and Milo found that he had to actively work at not taking his feelings out on his friends.

"Thanks, Dakota," he said around mouthful of his noodle burger.

The time agent shrugged. "Don't worry about," he said. "The one constant of every timeline I've ever been in is that hospital food is always terrible. It's like it's a universal constant, like the speed of light, or Murphy's Law, or gravity."

Milo was finally discharged from the hospital three days later, having undergone an additional two days of medical testing before Dr. Dunwood, following a consultation with Dr. Gardner, was satisfied that Milo had exhibited no permanent side effects as a result of his mutation. They threw Milo a kind of celebratory dinner with his favourite pizza, pepperoni and sausage, along with several large bottles of soda and a couple big bags of potato chips. The nurses on the ward had come to like Milo and turned a blind eye when his friends stayed after the end of official visiting hours. They were eventually gently ejected by the nurses because Milo had fallen asleep.

Milo woke up at around 7:30 the next morning, to the sound of the hospital orderly coming through the door with his breakfast tray. After finishing his breakfast, Milo levered himself out of bed. He hobbled over to where his backpack and body armour sat on the chair in the corner. He picked them up and hobbled into the bathroom. After a shower, which was cut short when the shower head barely whizzed past Milo's left ear and embedded itself in the opposite wall. He quickly shut off the water pouring from the broken faucet like a fire hose, before the bathroom floor flooded. Milo rummaged through the contents of his backpack and pulled out a toothbrush, a tube of toothpaste and a hairbrush. When he was finished brushing his teeth, he pulled a towel and his usual spare change of clothes out of his backpack. Milo dried himself off. By the time Milo had finished getting dressed and opened the door, he found his friends waiting for him, along with an orderly with a wheelchair. Milo shouldered his backpack. "Oh, hi guys," he said.

"Ready to go home, Milo?" asked Amanda.

Milo nodded. "Yeah," he said, "let's go home." He picked up his crutches and thrust them under his armpits. He quickly cast his eye around the room, checking one last time to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. Milo turned to go, hobbling past the orderly and the wheelchair. "Oh," said the orderly, "hospital regs require that-."

Milo stopped and turned. He realized that the orderly waiting for him to sit down and he chuckled. "I think I'll walk, thanks," he said, "I got stuck in the elevator twice on the same day this week."

When they got the hospital atrium, they found Wasabi waiting with his car. They crossed the hospital atrium, which was dotted with little knots of people scattered among bright, leafy green plants and glowing information kiosks. They walked outside into the bright morning sunshine and piled into Wasabi's car. He started the engine, checked his blind spot and pulled into the flow of traffic. The drive from the hospital to the Fredrickson compound, where Phineas and Ferb's jet still sat on the helipad where it had landed a week ago, took twenty minutes. The elaborate wrought iron gates opened as Wasabi approached and he drove through, turning out of the flow of morning traffic and on to the long driveway. They wound their up the long, winding driveway through the perfectly manicured grounds until they stopped in front of a large mansion. Everyone piled out of Wasabi's car and went inside.

They were met in the lobby by a tall, bald headed man with a permanently bored expression on his face. "Good morning, Master Wasabi," said Heathcliff in a bored voice.

"Don't mind us, Healthcliff," replied Wasabi, "we're just passing through."

"Very good, sir," replied the butler. "I believe you'll find Master Fredrick in the back garden by the helipad."

"Thanks, Heathcliff," said Wasabi. They walked across the large entry hall, with its expensive looking oil paintings and mahogany furniture. Everything was brightly illuminated by long shafts of mid morning sunlight. They walked down a hall and then through a set of double doors, across a large patio dotted with furniture and up a winding flagstone path to a large helipad. Hiro, Honey Lemon, Fred, Go Go and Baymax were standing waiting for Milo and the others, under one of the sleek jet's broad wings. There were several rounds of thanks and good byes, hugs, hand shakes and exchanges of contact information. The jet's door stood open and Milo hobbled up the metal staircase, ducked low, went inside and sat down.

When Milo walked from his house to the bus stop at the end of Druid Drive, the following Monday morning, it was to the accompaniment of whispers from the other kids waiting for the school bus and the usual snort of indignation and disbelief from Bradley, along with the usual wild gesticulations from Elliot.

"Oh, hi Milo."

Milo turned at the sound of his name and found himself face to face with Mort Schaefer. "Oh, hi. Mort," he said.

"I knew you'd be back today," he said.

"Really?" asked Milo.

Mort nodded. "I saw it in the emanations from my amethyst."

Milo wasn't really sure how to respond to that. "Oh," he said, "ummm…..thanks."

"So," Milo suddenly found himself casting around for something to say, when he suddenly seemed to recall that the Geckos had had a basketball game that week. They had gone to the national finals for the first time in the history of Jefferson G County Middle School. "How did the basketball team do?" he asked.

From the way Mort shook his head, Milo guessed that the game hadn't gone well. "We lost," he said after a minute or two. Mort was the basketball team's student manager.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mort," said Milo in sympathy. Like everyone else, Milo had become swept up in the excitement of the Geckos going on a winning streak. Like everyone else he was a little disappointed to learn that the team had not done as well as everyone had expected.

"Echo Creek had new point guard,"continued Mort. "He was really good. We were tied for awhile, then we fell behind in the third quarter and never caught up."

The school bus arrived ten minutes later, only to settle onto its rims when all the air escaped from its tires. As a result, everyone walked to school instead. Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda brought up the rear, talking amongst themselves as Milo hobbled along on his crutches. Milo almost fell twice crossing the school parking lot, and spent the rest of the day fielding what seemed like an endless barrage of questions, mostly from people he didn't know. Ordinarily, Milo didn't mind. He was well aware that his various absences and mishaps often elicited questions from other people, and most of the time Milo was happy to answer them, but for some reason, that he couldn't really put his finger on, Milo found that this time he wasn't really in the mood. More than once, Milo found himself looking at his cast. It was covered with almost a dozen signatures and get well messages. Milo appreciated the gesture of support and sympathy from his friends, but the sight of the all signatures made Milo feel uncomfortable. He still had no memory of what had happened and the doctors in San Fransokyo had told him that it was entirely possible that he would never remember what had happened at all. Milo found that he was having a hard time deciding how he felt about that. On the one hand, Milo was quietly proud of how Zack had pushed through his insecurities. He was also grateful that Zack had interposed himself between Milo and Melissa when Milo had tried to attack her after he had been mutated by the parasynths. _He got lucky,_ Milo thought to himself, _Zack almost had his eyes clawed out. It could have been a lot worse._ Milo had wondered off and on for the last week if he should say something to Zack, for overcoming his claustroavoidance and for trying to protect his friends. By the end of the day, Milo had decided that he would talk to Zack as soon as he found an opportunity.


	34. Chapter 34

Episode Forty Seven

Milo pushed these thoughts out of his mind with some difficulty as he hobbled on his crutches into the library at the end of the day. Amanda had asked all the members of the WIBA committee to stay after school. She had been in touch with the rest of the committee through e-mail and social media during the week she had spent in San Fransokyo with Zack and Melissa, while Milo had recovered from his mutation, but her unexpected absence had still meant there were fires to put out and the WIBAs were only a few weeks away. As ever, as Milo entered the library, Amanda gave him the impression of a general commanding her troops.

Amanda quickly ran her gaze over the various papers scattered across the table in front of her. "The design for the stage backdrop looks good," she said. She shuffled through some of the papers in front of her and picked up a piece of paper. Milo tried to read it upside down. The title across the top of the page read, "_38__th__ Annual WIBA Awards Category List."_ He thought of Zack and suddenly had an idea.

"Hi guys," he said.

Everyone turned at the sound of Milo's voice. "Sorry I'm late," he said. "I got stuck in the supply closet on the second floor again."

Amanda waved away Milo's apology. "That's OK-," she began.

She was interrupted by Bradly, who snorted in contempt. "Oh, of course," he said sarcastically, "let's all make excuses for Milo. He disappeared for an entire week and just shows up in school as nothing happened-."

Amanda's face flickered for a second and Milo thought that he detected a harsh rebuke there, but she appeared to Milo to have bitten her tongue and said, "Milo's had a hard week-."

Bradley snorted again. "Has he?" he asked, his voice edged with sarcasm.

Amanda sighed, "yes he has," she said. "Look, just shut up Bradley," and she suddenly wondered just what it was about Milo that Bradley didn't like. "You have no idea what you're talking about. You weren't there." Her face flickered again, and it took some effort to push away the memory of Milo lying unconscious on a tunnel floor.

"Actually, Amanda, can I see the category list?" asked Milo.

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry, Milo," she said. Amanda coloured slightly. She had momentarily forgotten that he had been standing there. "Of course." She handed him the category list. Milo took it and ran his eye down the list.

**Jefferson G County Middle School 38****th**** Annual Winter Break Awards**

Athletics

Varsity League Most Improved Player

Varsity League Most Valuable Player

Varsity League Player of the Year

Intermural League Most Improved Player

Intermural League Most Valuable Player

Intermural Player of the Year

Arts and Music

Poetry Contest Winner

Creative Writing Contest Winner

Art Show Contest Winner

Music Recital Winner

Drama Award

Academic Achievement

Quiz Bowl Winner

Achievement in Mathematics

Achievement in Geography

Science Fair Winner

Essay Writing Contest Winner

Individual Student Achievement

Most Dependable Friend

Best Gardener

Best Green Thumb

Greatest Perseverance

Best Juggler

Best Unicycler

Most Improved Bowler

"I'd liked to propose adding a new award category," said Milo after he had finished looking through the list.

"What category is that?" asked Bradley waspishly, "The 'How to Ditch School for a Week and Get Away with it Award?'"

Everyone else ignored him. "I was thinking of calling it the Greatest Personal Improvement Award," replied Milo. He paused, "unless someone has a better name," he said. He glanced at Amanda and suddenly found that Amanda appeared to unreadable. He glanced around at everyone else and thought that a few of the other kids seated around the table seemed to be receptive to the idea of adding a new award category. After a second or two, Amanda nodded. She took the award list from Milo and scribbled the words _Greatest Personal Improvement Award _underneath _Most Improved Bowler. _"I think that sounds like a good idea," she said. "Thanks for the suggestion, Milo."

The meeting broke up half an hour later. The late afternoon sun cast long, slanting shadows across the library book shelves, leaving everything in a dappled mix of light and shade. Milo squinted against the low, late winter sunlight as he stepped outside. There was a slight wind and the air was chilly. He paused momentarily and pulled his scarf tighter around his face. Milo tried to take a step and immediately felt himself begin to skid. He tried to steady himself on his crutches and immediately felt a hand on his elbow. Milo turned and found Amanda standing next to him. "Oh, hi Amanda," he said.

"Hi Milo," she said.

Milo steadied himself, planting most of his weight on his right foot. He leaned forward and carefully planted his crutches on the top step and attempted to lowered himself down to the next step. No sooner had he done this, than he lost his footing and fell splay-legged on to the hard, frozen concrete. A jolt of pain shot through his broken leg and Milo grimaced.

Amanda thrust out a gloved hand and Milo took it. The hood of her winter coat was pushed back and Milo was suddenly aware of how her hair caught the sunlight. With her help, he levered himself back into an upright position. Planting his weight on his right foot again, Milo carefully bent over and picked up his crutches, then straightened up. "Thanks, Amanda," he said. He took another cautious step forward and when he didn't fall again, Milo set off across the school parking lot.

Amanda fell into step beside him. "You're welcome," she said. The perfectionist and the hapless teenager crossed the school parking lot in companionable silence. Amanda seemed to be screwing up her courage, because when she spoke again, it was in a rush, as if she was afraid she were going to lose her nerve. "Milo," she suddenly, "I think what you did for Zack was really-."

Milo adopted an innocent look. "I don't know you mean, Amanda," he said in protest, "I just thought that-"

She didn't let him finish. "Yes you do," she chided him gently, but Milo could hear the clear note of approval in her voice. "He's claustrophobic-"

"Claustroavoidant," corrected Milo.

Amanda pressed on, ignoring his interruption, "either way," she said, "I think you did a good thing for Zack."

Milo gave his usual casual shrug. "From what he told me afterwards, it sounds like he went through a lot."

"I think he did too," said Amanda in agreement. She kissed Milo and he felt himself flush despite the chilly weather. "I hope he wins. He deserves it."

Milo and Amanda told Melissa what Milo had done at the meeting three days later. Zack had stepped out after finishing his lunch to use the bathroom. Melissa nodded in approval when they had finished talking. "I think you did a good a thing," she said around a bit of her sandwich, "After what happened in San Fransokyo, I was thinking of nominating him for Most Dependable Friend, but this is a lot better."

The rest of the week seemed to pass by with almost interminable slowness. The sensation that the week after Milo's adventure in San Fransokyo was moving by at a nearly glacial pace wasn't helped by the week's worth of missed school work he had to make up for as a result of having been in the hospital. By the time Saturday came, Milo had mostly managed to work through his backlog of missed assignments, but was feeling slightly wrung out. As result, he felt glad that he didn't have to get up early to pick up alien garbage with Cavendish and Dakota.

After they had all returned, there had been another informal celebratory dinner for Milo's safe return, during which Milo, Zack, Melissa, Cavendish and Dakota had explained everything that had happened after they had all woken up and found Milo gone. Cavendish and Dakota had also tried to apologize for leading Milo and all of his friends into what what in retrospect was clearly a trap.

Afterward, Martin had found himself full of conflicting thoughts and emotions he had watched Milo talking and laughing with his friends. On the one hand, he had been thankful that Milo had come back from San Fransokyo with nothing more serious than a broken leg, but remembered how elated Milo had been when he had come home from the first day of first grade with a skinned knee, a black eye and a new friend in tow. Over the next seven years, Milo and Melissa would become virtually inseparable. She had sat at the Murphy family dinner table table on many occasions, laughing, talking and joking with Milo and Sara and he had had to remind himself on more than one occasion that she was not one of his children. Milo, he had come to appreciate, made few, if any distinctions between his family and his closest, and for many years, only, friend.

Several times during dinner, Martin's eyes had slid back and forth between Milo and Cavendish and Dakota and he had thought of how excited Milo had been to go to school for the time and how Milo's first day of school had almost had a completely outcome. By Martin's estimation, the time agents had almost certainly saved Milo's life, as well as Melissa's.. Cavendish and Dakota had seen two children being dragged behind a school bus with a rocket engine lodged on its roof and had simply reacted. Cavendish's time vehicle had had the ability move three times faster than local time and the two time agents had been able to catch the two children before they had hit the ground. They had all then gone their separate ways. Over the next thirty years, or seven, depending on the point of view, Cavendish had died several hundred times and Dakota had rewritten his own timeline each time to undie his partner, which was a blatant violation of Bureau regulations and had resulted in the creation of a small army of time clones. It had also eventually resulted in Cavendish and Dakota being stripped of their time agent credentials and being banned from using time travel for life. In the meantime, Milo and Melissa had grown up together and had become close friends. Martin had always been grateful that Melissa had proven to be such a good friend to Milo. She had given him a sense of stability that Milo might not have had otherwise. Then Cavendish and Dakota had walked back into Milo's life and in the process of saving his life, and the lives of his friends, several more times, the two time agents had not only taken Milo and his friends under their wing, but had earned Milo's absolute trust.

"So, what does it all mean?" he had asked.

Milo, Cavendish and Dakota had all looked at each other. "Actually, Dad," Milo had said with a shrug, "we don't know."

Cavendish and Dakota had both nodded. "It's a certainly an unusual coincidence," Cavendish had said in agreement, "but, as Dakota and I are barred from using our time vehicle, we have no way of ascertaining what Milo being alive in this particular timeline actually means."


	35. Chapter 35

Episode Forty Eight

As February gradually faded into March, Danville was buried by a late winter blizzard. The storm dumped a foot of snow in two days, grinding everything to a halt. Zack was awakened earlier than usual by the ringing of his phone, which sat on its charging stand on his nightstand. Zack groaned blearily and rolled over. He clicked on his bedside lamp and immediately wished he hadn't. His eyes screwed up painfully against the sudden flood of light. After a second or two he was able to pry open his eyelids. The alarm clock on his nightstand read 5:30. _Who could possibly be calling me at 5:30 AM on a Wednesday_, he wondered. Zack pushed back the covers and retrieved his phone from his nightstand. The caller ID on his screen read, "Chase, Melissa." _What does Melissa want?_ Zack wondered. He cast a glance around his darkened bedroom, wondering if Melissa had forgotten a school book again. They had been working on their history project for until 10:00 last night. As far as he could tell he didn't see one. Wondering what she could possibly want this early in the morning on a Wednesday, he tapped his screen and put his phone to his ear. "Melissa?" he asked sleepily, "it's 5:30 in the morning, its Wednesday, and I'm pretty sure you didn't forget anything at my house last night, why are you-,"

Melissa's voice spoke excitedly in Zack's ear, interrupting him before he could finish his sentence. "Zack?" she asked, "are you awake?"

Zack sat up in bed."I'm awake," he groaned. His voice was edged with annoyance. "Why are you calling me so early in the morning?" He paused. Melissa usually didn't call him this early in the morning, even on the weekend. "Is everything alright, Melissa?" he asked, "has something happened with-."

"-what with Milo?" she asked, "In the last five minutes? I don't think so."

Zack had gone from half asleep to annoyed to confused. _What could she possibly want?_ he wondered. "So, why-," he began again.

Melissa interrupted him again. "Go to the window," she said.

Zack sighed, pushed back the covers and got out of bed. He was dressed in his boxers and nothing else. He stepped carefully around discarded clothes and books, stumbling and almost tripping over a wayward pair of running shoes. _OK_, thought Zack, _what am I supposed to look at?_ Awkwardly cradling his phone between his ear and his shoulder, Zack pulled back the curtains. He squinted again as his eyes were assaulted by a sudden burst of dazzling white light. At the same moment, he heard something fall to the floor with a clatter and Zack realized that he had dropped his phone. He could hear Melissa distantly saying, "Zack? Zack? Are you still there?"

He bent over and picked up his phone. By the time he straightened up, Zack's eyes had adjusted to the change in light levels and he surveyed the scene outside his bedroom window. The dull, slushy grey of Danville in midwinter had given way to a thick, fluffy white blanket. Zack estimated that there was at least a foot of snow on the ground. He put his phone to his ear. "So, snow day?" he asked. With this much snow on the ground, the school busses would be canceled at the bare minimum.

Melissa laughed in his ear. "Oh, this is definitely a snow day," she said.

"So what were you planning on doing today?" asked Zack. They were supposed to have had a math test today, but with the unexpected snowfall, Zack figured that it had been put off until next week at the earliest.

"Well, Milo's driveway probably needs shovelling," replied Melissa, with the suggestion of a shrug in her voice.

"So, Milo's house today?" asked Zack.

"Yeah," said Melissa, "Milo's house."

Zack was showered and dressed an hour later. He bolted down a quick breakfast and paused on his way out the door only call out a hurried, "bye Dad," after tugging on his snow suit, hat, boots and gloves. He opened the front door and felt a blast of chilly winter air. He stepped out on to the front porch, closing the door behind him. Zack felt the cold on his cheeks. His breath misted in front of him and a stray gust of wind spun the loosely packed snow into a snow devil. It skittered across the unplowed road to collapse before reaching the opposite curb. Zack picked his way down his unplowed driveway and turned toward where Oakmont Street ran into Watertown Road. He crossed to the other side of the road at the intersection and kept walking. It took him twice as long as usual to walk from his house to Milo's. The thick layer of powdery snow came up to the middle of his shins in places. Here and there it had been sculpted by the freezing winter wind into larger drifts. The few cars that had been left out overnight by careless owners had once again been turned into oddly shaped snow covered hummocks. On a couple of occasions, Zack skidded, slipped and nearly fell on unseen patches of ice. _I knew I should have worn my spikes_, he thought. He considered going back to get them, but he was halfway to down the block and turning around would take too much time, so he kept walking.

Zack ran into Melissa, who lived a block in the other direction from Milo, as he was about to turn on to Druid Drive and off of the main road. Melissa was bundled up agains the cold in a hat, scarf and light blue winter coat. Zack's eye was immediately drawn to her. Melissa's red hair and blue coat were the only spots of colour in the pristine white blanket that lay over everything. The steady _crunch-crunch-crunch_ of her spikes on hidden patches of ice and frozen concrete seemed to echo overly loudly in the early morning stillness.

"Morning Zack," she said.

"Oh, hi Melissa," replied Zack. Her cheeks were flushed a deep pink from the cold. _That shade of pink brings out her- _Zack suddenly thought. He felt his cheeks grow hot, despite the very cold weather. _Stop it! _he told himself. _Having a crush on Milo's best friend is-shut up! _Zack thought to himself. He had to actively work at making small talk with Melissa to silence the little voice in his head.

When Zack and Melissa arrived at Milo's house ten minutes later, they found Martin in the garage with the snowblower in pieces. Milo was sitting on a stool with his right leg hooked casually behind the crossbar. His left was stuck out awkwardly in front of him. The left leg of his snow pants was rolled up to above his knee . The heel of his cast was propped up on the edge of Martin's open tool box. Milo's crutches lay on the floor next to his stool.

"Oh, hi kids," said Martin brightly.

"Hi guys," said Milo, with a wave.

"So what happened to the snowblower?" asked Zack.

Martin cast an annoyed look at the snowblower, as if it had offended him.

"Doof," replied Milo simply.

"Milo was supposed to see Dr. Gardener, today," interjected Martin.

"Was your cast finally supposed to come off?" asked Zack.

Milo shook his head. "No," he said. "It's not supposed to come off for a couple of more weeks. This was just supposed to be a routine X-ray." He shrugged. "But then again, X-rays and Murphy's Law don't really mix very well. So maybe this was a blessing in disguise."

"What did Doof do anyway?" asked Melissa. She pressed a gloved hand to her mouth, stifling a snigger.

"He took my snowblower apart," said Martin. His voice wore a clear edge of annoyance.

"Why did he do that?"asked Zack. His face twitched. Zack was struggling not to laugh.

Milo shrugged. "He said he was going build us a snowblowinator," he said.

"Do I want to know what a snowblowinator is?" asked Melissa.

"A snowblower," replied Milo.

Zack and Melissa looked at each other. "Wait, OK," said Zack, "he basically tried to build you a snowblower-."

"-by taking apart a snowblower," finished Milo. He sighed. "Yeah."

It was Melissa's turn to shrug. "Well, it looks like you're in luck," she said. "School's canceled, and we thought Milo might need help with the driveway, so we thought we stop by."

Martin cast another dark look his partially disassembled snowblower. "Thanks, kids," he said. He hadn't really been looking forward to shovelling the driveway by himself. "That'd be a big help. I'll have to get Perry or Cavenpuss to help me put this back together later."

It took twenty five minutes for Zack, Melissa and Martin to completely clear the would have finished in less than twenty, except Martin broke three snow shovels and had to have his ankle wrapped by Melissa, after he sprained it slipping on a patch of ice. Amanda arrived just as Zack and Melissa were finishing the bottom third of the driveway.

"Oh, hi guys," she said.

"Hi, Amanda," said Milo brightly.

"Hi, Milo," she said. "I heard that school was cancelled, and with all this snow, I was worried about Milo, so I thought I'd come by and just make sure he's OK."

"I guess we all had the same thought," replied Zack. He gestured to the mostly shovelled driveway. "We thought we'd come by and see if Milo needed help with his driveway-."

"-we're most finished," continued Melissa, "but there are a couple of unbroken shovels in the garage. What don't you grab one? You could help us finish."

Amanda retrieved a spare shovel from the garage, and together with Zack and Melissa, they quickly finished off the bottom third of the driveway. By the time they were finished , the sun had risen well above the surrounding houses, and the cloudless sky was a clear, translucent blue.

"Come on inside," said Martin, "and I'll make the three of you breakfast."

They trooped in behind him, with Milo bringing up the rear on his crutches. They stopped only take off their boots and winter clothing, before traipsing as a group into the kitchen. They found Brigitte sitting at the kitchen table with a mug of hot coffee and a half eaten bagel with butter at her elbow. A set of architectural drawings were scattered across the table in front of her. She immediately gathered up the collection of plans and drawings as Milo hobbled into the room.

"Morning, Mrs. Murphy," said Melissa.

She surveyed Milo's friends. "What a nice surprise," she said with a smile. "I it take school was cancelled?"

They all nodded.

Martin gestured to Zack, Melissa and Amanda. "They all showed up with half an hour of each other worried about Milo in the snow and offered to help me shovel the driveway," he said.

She got up and moved toward the kitchen counter, "why don't you all sit down and I'll get breakfast going."


	36. Chapter 36

Episode Forty Nine

Brigitte opened the cupboard, reached up and pulled down a mixing bowl, measuring cups and a box of pancake mix. She walked over to the fridge, opened it and extracted milk and eggs.

"Are you sure you don't want me to do that?" asked Martin.

"No, that's all right, honey," she said. Brigitte gestured to the ceiling, where there was an electric waffle iron half embedded in the drywall. "Do you remember what happened the last time you tried to make breakfast?"

Martin's gaze followed her pointing finger upward toward the ceiling. "Oh, right," he said, "on second thought, I'll just go and sit down."

Sitting at the kitchen table, Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda, had overheard the exchange between Milo's parents. Amanda's eyes had also noticed the wayward waffle iron. "Milo, why exactly is there a waffle iron embedded in your ceiling?" she asked.

Milo shrugged, as if a flying waffle iron was a perfectly normal thing. "Dad tried to make us waffles for breakfast a couple weeks ago," he said, "and the result were," he paused momentarily, searching for the right word, "explosive."

Zack and Melissa traded a knowing look. They could remember when something much larger than a waffle iron had been stuck to Milo's kitchen ceiling. Not long after they had become friends, Milo had invited Zack, along with Melissa, to his house for dinner. Milo had been taking a cooking class at Danville Community College at the time and had decided to cook dinner for himself and Zack and Melissa. They had been skeptical at first, particularly as Milo's cooking class had ended in disaster, when Murphy's Law had struck and blown up the ovens, but they had come around when they had realized that Milo, as usual, knew what he was doing. That reassurance had lasted about as long it had taken for Murphy's Law to hit, which had caused Milo's pot of Mac and cheese to spontaneously explode, which had in turn left Milo covered in Mac and cheese from head to foot and stuck to the ceiling.

"And what is it about Murphy's Law and X-ray machines?" asked Zack, curiously. He traded another look with Melissa. He could tell that she had been wondering the same thing. Milo had always been fully open with Zack, Melissa and Amanda about his life, but that didn't mean that they weren't occasionally caught off guard by aspects of Murphy's Law that they had simply never thought about. Milo's surprising dislike of lace-up running shoes had been one such instance. His apparent dislike of of X-ray machines was another.

Milo shrugged again. "They behave oddly around me," he said.

"Milo, lots of things behave oddly you," said Melissa, "that doesn't really mean anything."

Milo nodded in agreement. "True," he said. Parking metres had been known to tick over from full to vacant as he walked down the street and ordinarily inert substances such as carbon dioxide and water sometimes burst into flames in his prescience. "Do you remember the first winter I took skiing lessons at Bluster Mountain?" he asked.

Melissa shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, I remember that," she said, then she chuckled, remembering, "We were eight. Your lesson lasted about as long as it took you to go head first into a snowbank. You broke both your wrists."

Milo nodded. "Do you remember what happened after that?"

Melissa thought for a second or two, remembering the incident. "You went to the hospital to have your wrists X-rayed and-," she broke off, as if making a sudden connection that she had never seen before. "Wasn't there a power outage?" asked Melissa.

"There was," interjected Martin. "The entire Tri-State Area went dark for four days."

"Wait OK,"said Zack, "Milo took a skiing lesson, had an accident and broke both of his wrists," he said. "For Milo, that's pretty normal. He then went to the hospital to have his wrists X-rayed. OK, also pretty normal, except that Milo having his wrists X-rayed caused a city-wide power outage? How does that happen?!"

"We never found the cause," replied Martin. "The black out lasted for four days because that's how long it took to reset the breakers, but once we reset the system and turned the power back on, everything worked." He took a swig of his coffee and continued. "We then spent the next eight months upgrading the city's power distribution system so that it could never happen again."

Amanda frowned slightly, as if she had noticed a flaw in Milo and Martin's story. "But, Mr. Murphy," she said, "Milo had his leg X-rayed in San Fransokyo and nothing happed."

"Well a lot things went wrong that night," said Milo, "maybe everything that could go wrong already had, so-," Milo trailed off. He suddenly looked slightly uncomfortable. "Actually, that reminds me," he said, "I never said-."

"Milo, you don't need to say anything," said Amanda.

"Yeah, buddy," replied Zack. He put a hand on Milo's shoulder. "We're your friends. What else would we do?"

Melissa nodded. "Yeah, nobody gets left behind."

It took three days for Danville to dig out from the storm. Jefferson G County Middle School remained closed until the following Monday. They spent the extended weekend mostly camped at Milo's house, playing video games, binging Doctor Zone and Skyping with Reggie. Early on Saturday morning, they got an unexpected text from Phineas.

"I wonder what he wants?" asked Zack as they waited at the bus stop at the end of Druid Drive.

"I have no idea," said Melissa. "He just said that he had something cool to show us."

"The last time he had something cool to show us we ended up in another dimension," replied Zack.

"Yeah, but how much of that was Phineas' fault as opposed to Murphy's Law?" asked Amanda.

"That was definitely Murphy's Law-," said Milo.

"-see," interjected Melissa.

"-I mean what are the odds of us being sucked through an inter-dimensional wormhole a second time," said Milo.

Zack opened his mouth to say something in reply to Milo and Melissa, but the arrival of the city bus prevented him from speaking. It stopped at the bus stop with a squeal of cold breaks and the door sighed open. They boarded the bus, swiping their transit cards over the reader. It registered them each them with an electronic _beep-beep-beep_, except for Milo's card, which seemed to cause an inexplicable malfunction. Milo thrust a gloved hand into the inside pocket of his heavy winter coat and pulled out his wallet. He opened it, extracted the cash fare, handed it to the driver and sat down.

The ride from the bus stop at the end of Druid Drive to the bus stop at the intersection of Maple Street and Povenmire Road took thirty five minutes. It was ordinarily only a twenty minute bus ride from Milo's house to Phineas', but the combination of bad roads, some of the side streets still hadn't been plowed, and Murphy's Law had meant that it had taken almost twice as long. As Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda stepped off the bus, they could see the large, rambling two storey house with a tall tree in the backyard. It's branches were bare and delicately dusted with snow. In between the tree and the house, and apparently occupying most of the backyard was-

Zack shaded his eyes. The sun was still low. "-is that a-?"

Melissa whistled in amazement. "I don't think I've ever seen one that big before."

"Come on," said Milo."Let's go find out what it is."

It didn't take long to walk from the bus stop and the corner of Povenmire and Maple Street to Phineas's house. The sidewalks had been shovelled and salted and Milo only skidded on his crutches once. When they arrived in Phineas and Ferb's front yard, they found the gate hanging slightly open. They pushed it open and went into the backyard. They gaped as they took the scene. Phineas, Ferb and Baljeet were huddled around a drafting table covered with blueprints. The object of the blueprint occupied most of the large snow covered backyard. The three boys turned as one as Milo and his friends entered the yard.

"Oh, hi Milo," said Phineas. "What do you think?" He gestured casually to the snow fort occupying most of the yard, as it was normal for ten years to build a snow fort the size of a house. It was huge. The top of the battlements stood level with the top of the roof. Round towers stood at each corner, where walls formed right angles. A square keep rose well above the walls from inside the space framed by the walls, which were made of perfectly laid blocks of pressed snow. Brightly coloured flags snapped in the breeze from the tops of towers and the keep.

"I-," began Milo.

"Wow," said Zack in amazement.

"Yeah," said Melissa, clearly impressed, "this is some snow fort, not the like the one that we built when we were eleven, you remember Milo?"

Milo chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, there was six inches of snow on the ground and it melted."

Phineas gave a modest shrug, as if the huge edifice were nothing at all. He walked over to a large pair of heavy looking double doors made of oak and held in place with hand forged wrought iron hinges. They swung easily as Phineas pushed them open. Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda followed him inside. Milo's eyes were drawn to the heavy wooden portcullis hanging in the archway. It swung slightly from creaking chains as it swayed gently in the slight breeze. He momentarily wondered how it stayed up, then he felt as if he was somehow running afoul of Murphy's Law just by thinking about, and he pushed the thought out of his mind. Milo followed the others into the huge inner court yard. Rows of windows with pointed gothic arches stared down at them from all sides. Phineas gestured to something in the middle of the court yard. Milo turned and looked and saw a crudely made semi-circle, with two little stumpy looking towers on each end."We originally built this," he said, "but we had all this left over snow and thought 'why waste it?'"

They spent the rest of the day exploring the huge snow fort. It was full of trap doors, secret passages and hidden rooms. The afternoon consisted of a series of snowball fights, all of which Milo lost. The last one devolved into a free for all. Milo nearly won that one, except that he was unexpectedly deluged in a sudden barrage of snowballs launched from a catapult by Buford. By Sunday night Milo found that he was looking forward to going back to school the next morning. He had enjoyed the extended break brought on by the sudden bout of bad weather, but he found that having nothing to do had left him going a little stir crazy and he was looking forward to the usual routine of school and homework.

_"Hello! Hello! Is this think on? Can anyone hear me?"_ The voice of Principle Milder cut through the sleepy fog of a classroom full of eighth graders early in the morning. The early morning sunlight cast bright squares across the floor of Mrs. Camillichec's home room. As usual, Principle Milder sounded as if she wasn't entirely sure if anyone was actually listening to her. "_Good morning Jefferson G County Middle School! I am excited to announce that today we in are the final countdown for _The 38th Annual Jefferson G County Winter Break Awards! _I will now turn the microphone over to the head of the WIBA Awards planning committee, Amanda Lopez."_

There came the momentary sound of shuffling as Principle Milder handed to the microphone to Amanda. _"Good morning, Jefferson G County Middle School," _she said, _"this year we will be holding the 38__th__ annual Winter Break Awards! The WIBAs are your opportunity to show your fellow students just how great think you think they are! The WIBAs will be handed out on Saturday, March 28__th__. I and the other members of the WIBA planning committee will be visiting your class room later today with ballots. Voting will open today," _As Amanda spoke over the PA system, Milo rummaged through his backpack, pushing aside his school books, his usual spare change of clothes, a bicycle tire, his first aid kit, a pair of night vision googles and several of Diogee's chew toys. His hand closed over a sheaf of papers. Milo pulled them out of his backpack, which he picked up and slipped on to his shoulders and got up out of his seat. He thrust his crutches under his arms and hobbled around the class room, depositing a ballot on everyone's desk.

Amanda was still speaking over the PA system. _"Voting will end on next Monday and the results will be counted on the following Friday,"_ she said. _"Each category will consist of up to five nominees. You will able to nominate your friends for up to five categories. We are also looking for volunteers to help us decorate the gym for the award show. The sign up sheet will be posted outside Principle Milder's office. The cut-off date is two week from today. It takes a lot to set for the award show and we appreciate all the help we can get, so we hope to see you there."_


	37. Chapter 37

Episode Fifty

Milo spent most of his lunch time distributing the ballots for the WIBAs to rest of the student body. He went from classroom to classroom crossing off all the names that on his copy of the list the committee had been provided by Principal Milder. With the WIBAs looming at the end of the month, it seemed as if nobody was talking about anything else.

"So who are you guys voting for?" asked Zack the next day over lunch, running his eyes down the ballot. "I was thinking about nominating Mort for Most Improved Athlete," he said, "and Chad for winner of the poetry contest."

Melissa took out her ballot sheet and frowned at it in response. Milo could clearly see on the back where she had written _Zack Underwood _next to _Greatest Personal Improvement_ in her neat penmanship. "Mort for Most Improved Athlete I can see," she said, writing down his name in the blank space next to the award in question, "he's been having a good season, but Chad for the poetry contest?" She shook her head. "He was OK, but honestly Chad should stick to gardening. I thought that Joni's piece was much, much better than Chad's." She paused. "What do you think, Milo?"

Milo washed down the last remnants of his tuna sandwich with a swig from his bottle of water and fished his ballot out of his backpack. He examined it critically. Like Melissa, he had already penciled in _Zack Underwood_ next to _Greatest Personal Improvement_ in his usual messy scrawl. He ran his eye down the list of award categories until he got to the poetry competition. "Actually, I didn't vote for Chad or Joni," he said.

"So who did you vote for?" asked Zack.

Milo shrugged. "I voted for Bradley," he said.

Zack and Melissa traded a look that was equal parts surprise and equal parts wry approval. It was typical Milo. He had voted for the poem that he had thought was the best and had disregarded what he knew full well what Bradley thought of him. "What?" he said, a little defensively, "I thought that Bradley's piece was really, really good."

Melissa laughed. "No, it's OK, Milo," she said. "We're just appreciating you being you."

Milo's cast came off a week later. He sat in the waiting room at Dr. Gardener's office next to Martin, perusing the lasted issue of _Doctor Zone Universe_. His crutches were propped up on an empty chair next to him. Martin sat on Milo's other side. He was nursing a sprained wrist. He had somehow managed to trip over Diogee going down stairs for a late night snack at one AM. The room was brightly lit by utilitarian fluorescent lights. The assorted chairs scattered around the room were slight worn and held a variety of people of different ages and descriptions.

"Milo Murphy?" Milo looked up at the sound of his name. A tall, thin woman in hospital scrubs was standing framed in the doorway. She was holding an open medical file in one hand. "Is there a Milo Murphy here?" she asked.

Milo put away his comic book. "Over here," he said.

The medical assistant double checked the notes in Milo's file. "Dr. Gardner will see you know," she said.

Milo got up, slid his backpack on to his shoulders and picked up his crutches. He thrust them under his arms and hobbled out of the waiting room with Martin in tow. Milo and Martin followed her down a drab looking corridor. The walls were painted institutional beige. Utilitarian light fixtures hung from the ceiling at regular intervals. Slightly battered looking filing cabinets dotted the walls on either side of the hall in both directions. Posters offering tests for various conditions and notices reminding doctors, nurses and medical assistants to wash their hands between patients lined the walls. They stopped at the end of the hall in front of a nondescript looking metal door. The nurse pushed open the door and frowned when the door knob came off in her hand.

"Oh, sorry about that," said Milo, who had noticed the look on her face and the door knob in her hand. "That's just Murphy's Law."

"Oh, ummm….right," she said. She pushed open the door, and Milo and Martin stepped inside. "Dr. Gardner will be with you shortly." She went out and let the door swing shut behind her.

Dr. Gardner's office was slightly shabby looking. Milo sat down on a small stool in the middle of the room, his left leg stuck out in front of him. He had examined the two rickety looking chairs next the room's sole desk and had decided not to risk them. Milo's hypothesis was no sooner proven correct than Martin sat down and his chair immediately collapsed, dumping him onto the floor. The desk that occupied most of one corner of the office held a computer and several anatomical models. The walls also held diagrams of various human anatomical systems and yet more notices admonishing the clinic's staff to wash their hands between patients. The wall opposite the desk was mostly occupied by an examination table. A small metal cabinet full of tongue depressors, gauze, cotton swabs and other medical supplies stood in the corner.

The door opened again ten minutes later, and Dr. Eugene Gardner entered the room. Dr. Gardner was a dark skinned man in his mid-forties with a medium build and close cropped black hair. His temples were flecked with grey. He held two files in his hand, both of them were labeled, "Murphy, M."

"Hello, Milo," he said as he entered the room, "Mr. Murphy."

"Hi, Dr. Gardner," said Milo cheerfully.

Dr. Gardner pulled out his chair and down at his desk. He glanced at Milo, giving him a quick once over and then flipping through Milo's medical notes. "I understand your cast is supposed come off today," he said.

Milo nodded.

"You appeared to have recovered from your experience in San Fransokyo," he said.

"Yeah," said Milo, "well, aside from my leg."

"Have you had any additional symptoms?" asked Dr. Gardner, "hallucinations, nausea, dizziness?"

Milo shook his head. "No," he said, "I feel fine."

Dr. Gardner scribbled some notes in Milo's file. "What about your memory?" he asked. "Do you have any recollection of what happened before you woke up in the hospital?"

Milo shook his head again. "No," he said.

Dr. Gardner scribbled some more notes. "The doctors in San Fransokyo told you that you might ever remember?"

"Yeah," replied Milo, "they said that's actually pretty normal."

It was Dr. Gardner's turn to nod. "It is," he said. He paused for a moment, picking his words. "In situations such as this, it's perfectly normal for the brain to suppress the memory entirely. You might remember it eventually or you won't, and if you that's OK." Dr. Gardner made some more notes. "Now, I'd like you to sit on the examination table so I can give you a quick exam and then we'll take your cast off." Milo got up and hobbled over to the examination table. He hopped up, sat down and began pulling off his sweater vest. After a couple of minutes, Milo's sweater vest, shirt and body armour were piled next to him. He was dressed only in his undershirt and a pair of jeans. The left leg of Milo's jeans were rolled up and pinned at the knee to accommodate his cast. Dr. Gardner fisher his stethoscope out of his pocket and pressed to Milo's chest, listening to his heart beat and the rhythm of his breathing. He gently probed Milo's neck and under his armpits. He shone a pen light in Milo's eyes, noted the dilation of his pupils and shone a light in his ears. He pulled a tongue depress out of a glass jar and thrust it into Milo's mouth. Milo obediently said "ahhhhhh," as Dr. Gardner examined his tonsils. He asked Milo a few more questions and Milo gave brief answers. Dr. Gardner paused momentarily to scribble down Milo's answers. He turned and set Milo's medical file on his desk next to his computer. "I'll be right back," he said, "I just need to get some tools."

When Dr. Gardner came back ten minutes later, he was carrying three pairs of safety goggles, face masks, a heavy duty pair of scissors and a small electric circular saw. He asked Milo to lie down and handed goggles and masks to Milo and Martin, then put on his own and plugged the saw into the wall socket. Milo felt his hamstring protest as he had not had full use of his left leg for several weeks. The electrical socket sparked and shorted out. A thin tendril of smoke curled up from the saw. Milo's negative probability field had fried its motor. Dr. Gardner set it aside and picked up the heavy duty shears in one hand and took hold of Milo's leg in the other. The sharp serrated blades of the shears made a crunching noise as they bit into the fibreglass. Dr. Gardner cut a mostly straight straight line from just below Milo's knee to just above his ankle. The two halves of the outer fibreglass sheath sprang apart as the tension was released. Dr. Gardner pried open the outer layer of fibreglass and gently lifted Milo's leg out of its cocoon. Milo's leg was tightly wrapped in medical gauze and tensor bandages. A plastic rod had kept the bones in Milo's leg rigid. Dr. Gardner pulled a pair of medical scissors out of a drawer and quickly cut through the gauze, then unwrapped the tensor bandage.

Milo sat up. The skin on his left leg had a dimpled appearance, as a result of being wrapped in bandages for several weeks, A thin crease ran up the side of his leg where the plastic splint had been pressed against his calf. His calf muscle appeared slightly shrunken, as a result of not having been walked on for several weeks. He put on his body armour, shirt and sweater and swung his legs over the edge. He hopped down on the floor and immediately staggered a little. Milo's calf muscles protested and he felt the ligaments in his knee twinge slightly.

"Go slowly, Milo," said Dr. Gardner, "you've been off your left leg for several weeks. Your strength will come back eventually, but it will take a little time, so don't push yourself."

Milo nodded and then chuckled. "That's a little easier said than done," he said, "but I'll try to keep it to a dull roar."

Dr. Gardner walked over to his desk and picked up Martin's file. He opened it and quickly scanned through it. He gestured to the place that Milo had just vacated. Milo returned to the stool he had been sitting on before Dr. Gardner had entered the room. "Have a seat," he said.

Martin sat down on the edge of the examination table. Dr. Gardner took Martin's wrist. He probed it gently. Martin winced a little. His wrist was a mottled purple and slightly swollen. "How did this happen?" asked Dr. Gardner, as he continued to probe Martin's wrist.

"I tripped over Diogee," replied Martin. He had been on his way downstairs to the kitchen at one in the morning for a piece of chocolate cake, when a vase had fallen off of a shelf. Martin had stepped on it in the dark, lost his footing and tripped over Diogee, who had somehow gotten free from Milo's bedroom and had been at the top of the stairs. Martin had tumbled headlong down the stairs, landing in a heap in the front and spraining his wrist.

Dr. Gardner rummaged through a drawer and produced some medical tape and a wrist brace. He quickly and carefully wrapped Martin's wrist. "You have a bad sprain," he said, "I don't think it's broken." Martin felt a stab of pain as Dr. Gardner cinched the bandages tight, then applied the wrist brace. "Take it easy for a days and you should be back to normal in no time."


	38. Chapter 38

Episode Fifty One

Milo spent the rest of the following week filling out his WIBA ballot. His leg ached slightly when ever he put his weight on it, as a result not having walked on it for several weeks. He had had to completely start his ballot over three times. The first time, Milo had found his ballot shredded to confetti by Diogee. The second time, it had been snatched out of his hand by a hawk and the third had burst into flames and crumbled to ashes as soon as Amanda handed it to him. On the following Friday, Milo once again spent most of his lunch break going from classroom to classroom collecting everyone's ballots and crossing off names on his list. After the last bell had rung at the end of the day, Milo casually sauntered into the library where he found Amanda and several students whose names he didn't know sitting at a table with tabulating sheets in front of them. There were also stacks of ballots scattered amid the tabulating sheets. Amanda looked up as Milo approached.

"Oh, hi Milo,"she said.

"Hi Amanda," replied Milo. He noticed that there was an empty seat next to her. "I have the rest of the ballots," he said. Milo took off his backpack and put it on the table. He opened the flap, thrust his hand inside and pulled out a sheaf of paper. Some of the ballots were singed around the edges. Others were waterlogged. "Sorry, Amanda-," Milo began, but Amanda took the sheaf of ballots from him and began to rifle through them, separating them by grade class number.

"It's OK," she said, "actually, I need your help."

"Sure," replied Milo, "what do you need help with?"

"Well, I need help with a couple of things actually," she said. "Joni was supposed to help us count all the votes, but she had an accident walking from Mrs. Murawski's room to the music room."

"What happened?" as Milo, a slight edge of concern in his voice. Joni had always been nice to him, if a little stand-offish.

"The water fountain outside of Ms. Murawski's class room was leaking again," replied Amanda. "Joni slipped and broke her ankle. She had to go the hospital."

"That's too bad," said Milo. "I hope she's OK."

"She'll be alright," said Amanda, "but it means that we'll be short a presenter for the award show as well, and I was hoping I could count on you."

Milo suddenly felt himself blush a little. He had been locked out of the gym during the previous year's WIBAs and had not made it on to the stage to receive his award until after the show was over. He knew how hard Amanda worked putting these school events. He didn't want to be the one to ruin what he knew was a really important night for her. "I don't know," he began, but Amanda cut him off.

"-I originally had Joni penciled into give the Greatest Personal Improvement award," she said, "but she's been told to stay off her feet, and given that that award was your idea in the first place, I thought you might like to do it."

Milo blushed a little deeper. It hadn't occurred to him at all to volunteer to be one of the presenters. He was suddenly very interested in a fly buzzing near Amanda's ear. He couldn't remember a time where he had had to speak publicly and it had gone well. He remembered the speech he had had to memorize in the fourth grade. He wasn't sure Murphy's Law would let him forget it. Every year the students of John P Tri-State Elementary School participated in a school wide public speaking students were required to research, write and memorize a three to five minute speech on a topic of their choice. The best speeches from each grade would be given in front of the entire student body, the teachers and all of the parents. Milo had chosen dinosaurs for his theme. He had slaved over his speech for weeks, agonizing over the delivery of every word. He had wanted it to be perfect. To Milo's great surprise, a long with everyone else's, his speech, which had clocked in at six and a half minutes, had been one of the best speeches in the entire fourth grade. Milo had come home from school elated and announced that he had been selected to give his speech in front the students, the teachers and all of the parents. Milo had been on pins and needles for an entire week. He had been nervous and excited at the same time. He kept practicing his speech. He hadn't wanted to let anybody down. On the following Saturday, Milo had stood behind the curtain on the stage in the school gym, his palms slightly sweaty, listening to the kids from first, second and third grade gave their speeches. Finally it was his turn.

As if from somewhere very distant he had heard Principle Marsh say, "And now from Mrs. Hirano's fourth grade class, Milo Murphy!" There had been a smattering of polite applause from the assembled crowd.

As he had stepped out on to the stage, Milo had suddenly felt accurately aware that everyone was watching him. It was as if he had nothing on and was standing in a very bright light. Milo distinctly remembered looking around the gym for something to concrete to focus on. His eyes had settled on Amanda. She had been wearing a lavender sun dress and a matching hair band. Milo had felt his heart beating very rapidly and had taken a deep breath. "Fellow students, teachers and parents," he had said, "good afternoon-." That had been as far as Milo had gotten.

Before he had been able to say another word, the gym had been filled with a bluish-white light and a sound like a thunder clap. That had been immediately followed by shouts, screams, the sound of stampeding feet and the clatter of overturned chairs. Milo had instinctively thrown his hand up in front of his eyes to shield them from the sudden glare. When the light and noise had faded and he could see and hear again, Milo had brought his hand down to find a herd of dinosaurs rampaging around the gym. They had stomped their feet and bellowed before battering their way through a wall to the outside, where they had proceeded to cut a swath of destruct across Danville before disappearing at the corner of Brand and Sanchez. Where they had come from and where they had gone would remain a mystery. Milo had stayed away from speaking in public after that.

He suddenly realized that Amanda was still speaking to him. "Milo?" she said, "Milo, did you hear what I said?"

Milo started. "Huh, oh, I'm sorry, Amanda, what were you saying?" he asked.

"I thought you might like to hand out the award," replied Amanda, "seeing as this award was your idea."

"Oh-," Milo began again, somewhat uncertainly, "I-."

Amanda shuffled through the papers in front her. She quickly found the list of presenters. She crossed off Joni's name and wrote Milo's next the Greatest Personal Improvement Award. Milo swallowed. He thought he could hear the sound of stampeding dinosaurs and had to work to push the thought away. "It's OK, Milo," said Amanda. She seemed to have guessed the reason for Milo's hesitation, "lots of people have a fear of public speaking," she said. "It's a perfectly normal thing. All you have to do is read the name on the card."

Milo still looked somewhat uncertain. "Well, OK," he said at last.

"Thanks, Milo," said Amanda. "I really appreciate it."

Milo stammered. "Oh, ummmm…..you're welcome, Amanda," he said at last.

"There's a full run through of the entire show schedule for next week," said Amanda. She gave Milo a reassuring smile. "And don't worry, Milo," she said. "You're going to do fine."

Milo didn't look reassured. _I hope so,_ he thought.


	39. Chapter 39

Episode Fifty Two

It took an hour to sort and count all the ballots. By the time they were finished, low shafts of late afternoon sunlight cast long shadows among the stacks of books in the library. Milo swept his things into his backpack into and turned to leave the library. He threaded his way through the empty tables and chairs, pushed open the door and stepped into the hall. As the door closed behind him, Milo heard a crash and a dull thud behind him, and realized that one of the book cases must have fallen over. The hall was outside the library was in semi-darkness. Milo skidded slightly and he felt his leg twinge again. He guessed that Fred, the janitor, had been moping the floor in the hall just outside the library. Milo picked his way carefully down the hall, skidding several more times on the wet floor and his leg protested loudly several times in response. Milo pushed open the door and stepped outside. The school parking lot was deserted. The sun hovered low in the sky, just above the houses. Lights were starting to flick on in nearby windows as people came home from work and school. Milo walked across the school parking lot, stumbling slightly as his foot caught on the concrete block at the end of Principal Milder's usual parking space. He trudged through the slushy snow across the lawn to the sidewalk. Patches of dull brown grass appeared here and there through the snow. The foot of snow that had fallen on Danville had most melted. The late afternoon air seemed to hold the promise of spring. Despite the low sun on the horizon, the air felt slightly stepped off of the lawn and on to the sidewalk in front of the school.

As Milo crossed the street he unexpectedly found himself thinking about his exchange with Amanda and he suddenly felt slightly guilty. She had been right, Milo decided, this award _had_ been his idea. _You wanted to show Zack your appreciation for overcoming his claustroavoidance in San Fransokyo,_ he thought, _he'd appreciate getting it from his best friend_. As he made it to the other side of the street, dodging around a hole in the road, which had opened almost directly beneath his feet. As he stepped on to the sidewalk, another voice spoke in Milo's head. _What about Melissa? _he thought, _she wanted to nominate Zack for Most Dependable Friend, I bet she'd love to do it._ As soon as the thought occurred to him, Milo felt a hot flash of emotion that he'd never experienced before. He immediately decided that he didn't like. Milo took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling slowly. _Where did that come from?_ he thought. As soon the thought occurred to him, the little voice spoke again. It almost seemed to be laughing at him. _Oh, Milo, you're such a dope sometimes. Isn't it obvious? Zack has a crush on Melissa. _Milo missed a step in surprise, as this thought struck him. The tines of his winter spikes caught in a gap in the sidewalk, and Milo fell. Pain shot through his left leg, and Milo winced. He slowly got to his feet, the calf muscles in his left leg throbbing.

Milo started walking again, limping slightly. His leg protested loudly with every step. As he continued to walk, the little voice in the back of his head returned. _Zack has crush on Melissa,_ it said again. Milo almost missed another step. He put his right foot down very, very slowly, then took a step and another, then another. Milo laughed to himself, _Zack doesn't have a crush on Melissa, _he thought, then he paused, _does he?_ Milo suddenly remembered an incident that had occurred just before he had been abducted by the Octalians for the second time. He had planned to meet Zack and Melissa for lunch at the mall.

"Hurry up," Melissa had called to him from three floors above, after his phone had broken,"this is starting to feel like a date."

"No it isn't," Zack had protested.

Milo had spent most of the afternoon, trapped in an elevator with Scott, Coach Mitchell and Lydia.

_See,_ he thought, _Zack's not interested in Melissa. _As Milo dodged around a falling tree branch, the little voice mischievously asked,_ are you sure, Milo? _Milo took a quick extra step forward, as a street light came whistling down and landed with the tinkle of breaking where Milo had been standing a few seconds before. Another memory came floating to the surface of Milo's thoughts. It had been after they had successfully dissipated the Sphere of Calamity. Melissa had kissed Zack and Milo suddenly recalled teasing Zack afterward. _Wait, _Milo's eyes widen slightly in surprise, _does Melissa have a crush on Zack? _If she did, she had never said anything to Milo, _and we tell each other everything,_ he thought. _But you never told Zack and Melissa that you had a crush on Amanda._ Milo felt himself suddenly grow hot at this. It was true that he had never really talked about he felt about Amanda with Zack and Melissa. _She's a friend_, he thought as he barely avoided a man hole cover, which flew into the air at his approach and landed with a dull thud somewhere behind him, _that's all._

As Milo crossed the road marking the edge of his subdivision, he heard the squeal of tires and crunch of rending metal as a city garbage truck slid through the intersection and hit a light pole. As he picked his way around the edge of the accident, to the sound of sirens and the smell of garbage, the the little voice in the back of his head returned. _Is she? _he thought. Milo had been surprise when Amanda has presented him with Weird Al tickets for his birthday and he had been overjoyed when she had presented him with one of Reggie's drawings as a Christmas gift. _If she's just a friend, _the little voice ask him, _why has she gone out of her way to spend so much time with you over the last year? _Milo didn't really have a good answer for that. He had always liked Amanda. Unlike many other people, she had never been anything but polite to, which he had always appreciated, even though she had kept him at arm's length. However, Milo was long used to that and hadn't really thought about it much. It hadn't been until after the school dance last year that Amanda's perception of Milo begun appreciably change. She had become noticeably more relaxed around Milo and had been elated when he had helped her win on Cake 'Splosion, her favourite competitive baking show. She had regularly hung around with Milo, Zack and Melissa ever since and had been visibly relived when the three of them had come back from Octalia, tired, disheveled and covered in cuts and bruises, but otherwise unharmed.

By the time Milo approached his own block, the sun was slowly sinking behind the surrounding houses, casting long shadows over the neighbourhood. He suddenly remembered what Sara had said to him last summer, after the four of them had gone camping in Coyote Woods. "You know," she had said, "you could do a lot worse than Amanda Lopez." Milo's eyes widened slightly in surprise as a sudden thought struck him. _Does Amanda actually have a crush on me? _he thought wonderingly. The little voice was back again, _well, gee Milo, of course she has a crush on you,_ it said, _you're always putting everyone else ahead of yourself. _Milo suddenly and unaccountably felt slightly defensive, _and what's wrong with that?_ he asked. _Nothing at all, _said the little voice innocently, _how many times have you gone out of your way for Amanda? Two? Three? _Milo thought for a second. In addition to ending up on Cake 'Splosion together and winning , Milo had saved the school dance when when Murphy's Law had struck and threatened to ruin Amanda's carefully planned event, and before that he had found himself backstage at the Danville Opera House during a performance of The Mezzosopranos, where predictably, everything that could go wrong had. It had also been the night that Milo had finally worked up the nerve to talk to Amanda, after months of agonizing over how to talk to her. _You see? _said the little voice in the back of his head, _Amanda appreciates everything you've done for her. _

As Milo turned onto Druid Drive he thought, _well yeah, but I've helped out Zack and Melissa as well, _he thought, _loads of times, and I've been friends with Melissa since we were six, they don't have a crush on me. _The little voice chided Milo, _no they don't, but what about that summer when you were eight? _When Milo had been eight years old, he had convinced Martin and Brigitte to let him go to summer camp. He had also convince Melissa to go with him. They had both practically been on pins and needles for the last two weeks of school. It had been the first time Milo had been away from his family for an extended period of time. He had been looking forward to a whole month of camping, hiking, swimming and fishing.

Milo had had a ball. He had gone horseback riding, learned to tie knots, went rock climbing, hiking and fishing. Then half way through their month at camp, Murphy's Law had struck. In retrospect, he had felt as thought he should have seen it coming. In addition, the camp's various outdoor activities, the campers were also required to undertake light chores. Milo and Melissa had been washing and drying dishes in the camp kitchen, when the gas fired oven had exploded. The force of the exploding had knocked Milo and Melissa through a wall. Milo had had a mild concussion, but had otherwise been unharmed. Melissa, however, had broken her arm in three places. Both Milo and Melissa had to leave camp early early as a result. Milo had spent three days in the hospital under observation, while Melissa had had required surgery to reset bones in her arm. Milo had felt somewhat conflicted in the wake of the incident. On the one hand, Milo had been glad that Melissa had recovered quickly from her injury, but on other hand, Milo had found afterward that he couldn't help but feel a certain sense of protectiveness toward Melissa. He had tried to apologize to her for what had happened, but she had waved his apology away. In the intervening five years, as Milo and Melissa had grown up together, Milo had increasingly come to see Melissa as a surrogate member of his family. Sara had teased him on more than one occasion about his close friendship with Melissa. "Its almost as if you have a crush," she had said more than once.

Milo would frequently stammer and blush. "What? No I don't!"

_Yes you do_, said the little voice in the back of Milo's head, _of course you do, why else do you spend so much time with her. _Milo felt himself grow hot again. _ Melissa is my best friend,_ he thought, _she's amazing-_

Milo could see his house halfway down the block. Martin's battered looking Range Rover was parked in the driveway. _You want to be more than friends, _it said, _more than even best friends, you wanted her to be your girlfriend. _Milo felt himself flush even more deeply at this thought. _That's just-I never thought that,_ he thought to himself, _It'd just be weird, like going out with my sister,_ and he reflexively shuddered.

With considerable effort, Milo pushed these thoughts out of his head and walked the rest of the way down the block to his house, head full of ringing silence.


	40. Chapter 40

Episode Fifty Three

Milo continued to wrestle with his thoughts in the wake of this realization for the next several days. Over lunch the next day, and after school, when the four of them gather together to work on their homework and other assignments, Milo could almost swear that on a couple of occasions, he thought he saw Zack shooting furtive looks at Melissa._That could just be my imagination_, he thought, but he couldn't help but feela flash of emotion every time it happened. He wondered if he would ever stop doing that. He also caught himself looking at Amanda on at least one or two occasions as well, but her back had been turned and she hadn't noticed. He wondered if he should ask Amanda if she had a crush on him, but each time the thought occurred to him, he heard a loud rushing sound in his ears, as if Murphy's Law was somehow causing his brain to jam, and he wasn't able to think at all until he stopped thinking about Amanda and thought about something else.

The upside of Milo's confusion was that he had totally forgotten about his trepidation over having allowed himself to be roped into presenting at the WIBA Awards, which were rapidly approaching. As he walked into the gym after school, he pushed these thoughts aside with difficulty. The gym had been transformed. Stacks of folding chairs were scattered here and there, obscuring the scuffed and weathered hardwood of the basketball court. Streamers hung from the walls. A large banner over the stage at the far end of the gym proclaimed "The Jefferson G County Middle School Winter Break Awards." Students were buzzing around under Amanda's supervision, as they set up chairs, tested the stage lights and the A/V booth. Bradley and Mort grunted with effort as they maneuvered a heavy looking folding table out of the sliding storage rack under the stage where they were usually kept out of the way when not in use. There were two more already set up on stage. Amanda was standing in the middle of the confusion with a clipboard in one hand, talking to Zack and Melissa.

"Zack, you can help Chad set up all these folding chairs," said Amanda. She turned to Melissa. "Melissa, I need you to help Joni finish setting up the A/V booth."

An overhead light came down with a loud crash that echoed off the walls. Everyone stopped at the sudden noise, turning to stare at Milo. He ignored them as he stepped around the shattered ceiling light, which was surrounded by broken glass. He walked over to where Zack and Melissa had been talking to Amanda before he had arrived.

"Hi guys," he said.

"Oh, hi Milo," said Amanda.

"The gym looks great, Amanda," replied Milo.

"Thanks," said Amanda, "but actually we're not quite finished setting up yet." She gestured to the controlled confusion swirling around them.

From somewhere in the background, Milo heard a loud bang as something heavy hit the floor. A split second later he heard Bradley exclaim angrily, "Mort, you dropped that on my foot!"

"Sorry, Bradley," said Mort sheepishly. "I think that was-"

"I don't care what that was-," interjected Bradley.

Milo turned his attention back to Amanda, who was still speaking.

"When we're finished setting up up for the award show, we're going to run through a rehearsal for the award show," she was saying.

It took almost an hour to finish setting up the gym for the WIBAs. Milo had to keep telling himself to focus on what he was doing. After Bradley and Mort had finished moving and setting up the tables for the awards, Amanda had asked him to help Mort and Chad set up the stage lights. As Mort and Chad hoisted the lights into position over the stage, Milo picked up the end of a heavy duty extension cord and walked over to a wall socket in a corner. He bent over and plugged it in. It sparked as he did so, and Milo felt a jolt run up his arm. It made the hair on his arm stand on end and Milo felt as though ants were crawling around under his skin. Milo sniffed. He thought he smelled something burning, then felt slight warmth on top of his head, and Milo realized that his hair was slightly singed. Half a second after that, the lights went out. The gym was plunged into semidarkness. The only light coming from outside was the watery sunlight coming in through the high windows just under the ceiling. The shafts of sunlight caught the dust motes suspended in midair. Milo let go of the extension cord, which was smoking slightly. The sensation of ants crawling around under his skin ceased as soon as his hand broke contact. Milo straightened up. Above the sound of people milling around and muttering in the semi-darkness, Milo heard the sound of rapid footsteps. He paused, his backpack hanging loosely from one shoulder, to see, Zack, Melissa and Amanda all coming quickly toward him.

"Milo, are you OK?" asked Amanda, the whites of her eyes seemed extra bright in the gloom.

Milo gave a casual shrug. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "This is the," he paused briefly, mentally counting, "third time I've been electrocuted."

"Not counting the two times you were struck by lightning,' interjected Melissa.

Milo nodded. He had momentarily forgotten that he had been hit lightning on his eighth and tenth birthdays. "OK, so I've been electrocuted five times, then," he said.

"Milo, you realize you have an electrical burn on your hand," said Zack.

Milo looked down at his right hand. His palm was shiny, red and blistered. He was suddenly aware of a throbbing pain in his hand. "Oh," he said, "thanks, Zack." He let his backpack slide off his other shoulder and it fell to the floor with a dull thud. He quickly rifled through his backpack and pulled out his burn kit. Milo spread anti-burn gel on his palm and then wrapped his hand in a bandage. He reached into his backpack again, produced a pair of heavy black electricians's gloves and tugged them on. The glove on his right hand was snugger fit than usual owing to the bandage wrapped around his palm and he found that both the burn and the bandage he wrapped his hand in had limited the dexterity of Milo's right hand. He awkwardly leaned over and took hold of the extension cord with his left hand. Milo tugged, but the plug didn't want to budge. He frowned at it. "Hmmmm," he said, "it appeared to be stuck."

"Could it be fused with the electrical socket?" asked Melissa. "You looked like you got a pretty good jolt."

Milo looked at the electrical plug and frowned again. "I don't think so Melissa," he said. He tried pulling on the extension cord again. It still refused to the stinging sensation in the palm of his right hand, Milo awkwardly wrapped his other hand around the extension cord and gave a hard pull. The plug and the wall socket came loose together with a loud cracking noise as the cinderblock wall splintered. Milo straightened up, and taking the electrical plug in one hand and the wall socket in the other wrenched them apart. He let the extension cord fall to the floor and rummaged through his backpack again, this time, extracting a pair of pliers. Milo stripped off his electrician's gloves, stuffed them into his pocket and set about rewiring the electrical socket. He was half way through rewiring the plug when Bradley stalked over to where Melissa, Zack and Amanda were watching Milo work.

"Amanda, what's going on?" he asked. "Why are the lights still out?"

"Working on it, Bradley," said Milo slightly absently, as he patiently finished rewiring the wall plug.

Bradley uttered a characteristic snort. "Of course," he said, "who ever would have guessed that this was caused by Milo? Oh wait," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "everyone."

Milo finished what he was doing and stood up. "Come on," he said to Amanda, Zack and Melissa, "lets go check the fuse box." Milo turned and walked over to a darkened corner on the opposite side of the stage. He had taken about five steps when he was suddenly in free fall. The stage floor had given way and Milo landed with a thud on a pile of boxes. Aside from the shaft of dim light coming down from where he had fallen through the stage. He could fee the tines of his grappling hook pressing against the small of his back through his backpack. _That's definitely going to leave a bruise_, thought Milo. He took in a breath and felt momentarily dizzy. The fall had apparently momentarily knocked the wind out of him. Milo sat up and climbed out of the pile of boxes that had broken his fall. He shrugged off his backpack and fished through the contents for a flashlight. His hand pushed aside a spare bicycle chain and a tire pump and closed over one of his headlamps. Milo pulled it out of his backpack and put it on his head. He clicked it on and a cone of pale yellow light lit up the space immediately around him. Milo's head lamp cast wild shadows on the walls around him. The space under the stage was mostly filled with boxes of props, sets and racks of slightly dusty costumes from previous years' school plays. Pipes, bundles of electrical wires and air conditioning ducts snaked here and there overhead. He wove his way through the maze of various cluttered objects that occupied the space.

Milo was half way to the staircase on the other side of the room, when he heard a loud hissing noise and suddenly felt as if he were covered in something hot and wet. Milo's hair was plastered to his forehead and his clothes stuck to his grey-white fog swirled in the yellow beam of his head lamp, obscuring his vision and filling the room. Milo looked around, wondering where it had come from. A sudden thought struck him and he looked overhead. A steam pipe had burst, dousing him in a thick white cloud. Milo thought for a second, running through contents of his backpack in his mind to see if he had anything he could use to shut off the thick, billowing clouds flowing out of the ruptured pipe. Without taking off his backpack, Milo reached around behind himself and thrust a hand into his backpack. He extracted a large plumber's wrench and looked around, searching for a shut-off valve. He spied one on the other side of the room, through the swirling clouds of condensation.

Milo wound his way through the cluttered mess. He was suddenly knocked to the floor under avalanche of swords and armour left over from last year's production of Camelot. At the same moment, his headlamp went out and Milo was plunged back into darkness. He crawled out from under the pile of swords and armour and stood up. Milo took in a breath and coughed several times. The pile of swords and armour that had knocked him over had kicked of a thick cloud of dust. Milo groped through his backpack in the darkness, looking for his dust mask. His hand closed instead over the familiarity shape of his night vision googles. He pulled off his head lamp, pulled his night vision googles down over his eyes and flicked them on. They cut through the thick clouds of steam like a knife through butter. Everything was bathed in vivid shades of electronic green. Milo quickly scanned the room and found the shut off valve again on the other side of the room. He set off again, sidestepping a falling ladder and dodging around an overturned shelf of cleaning supplies.

Milo eventually reached the shut off valve after narrowly avoiding being bombarded with a deluge of intramural sports trophies. One in particular caught his eye. Milo bent over and picked it up. It had a gold coloured plastic soccer player on top. The plaque at the base read

Jefferson G County Middle School

Intramural Soccer League

Martin Murphy

Best Remaining Player

1985

Martin had talked on more than a few occasions about the soccer trophy he had won when he had been Milo's age. The trophy was very dusty. It had clearly been down in the basement for a long time and Milo doubted that anyone would notice that it was missing. _Dad will be really happy that I found this, _thought Milo. He tucked it into his backpack and turned his attention back to the shut off valve. He hefted his plumber's wrench and jammed it securely it into the spokes of the large circular valve. The burn on Milo's palm throbbed again and he adjusted his grip slightly so that it was less painful.

Milo pushed on the wrench that he had jammed into the circular handle. It moved, but only very slightly and he guessed that nobody had turned it in a long time. He tried pushing it again and it moved a little more. _I think it moved more easily_, he thought. Milo took hold of the plumber's wrench for the third time and put all of his weight on it. He felt it begin to turn and the loud hissing of the steam out of the ruptured pipe on the other side of the room became noticeably quieter.

Milo managed to turn the shut off valve a little more than a half revolution when it suddenly snapped off. He toppled to the floor and felt the head of the bolt ruffling the hair on the back of his head as it went whizzing past him and spanged loudly off of a near by water pipe, which split open with the sound of gushing water. Milo picked himself up, retrieved his wrench and quickly finished closing off the flow of steam. The loud hiss was replaced by the gurgle of water flowing out of the burst water pipe. He looked around again, looking for another shut off valve. A large puddle of water was spreading across the floor. Milo spied the valve he was looking for on the opposite wall. He began picking his way across the room, moving much faster than before. With the steam from the broken steam pipe no longer filling the room with thick obscuring clouds, it was much easier to see what he was doing and he crossed the room with less difficulty that before, only having to backtrack when a pile of marching band instruments suddenly fell in front of him, blocking his path.

After about ten minutes, Milo reached the shut off valve. He took hold of it and turned it a little. It turned easily and after several revolutions, the stream of water flowing out of the burst pipe slowed and then stopped. The only remaining sound was the thin trickle of water flowing into the drain in the middle of the floor. Milo scanned the room again, looking for the stairs back up to the stage. He found them after a short search in the far corner, opposite to where he had fallen through the floor and made his way over to them. He put one foot and then the other on the bottom step and stood very still, as if waiting for something to happen. The last time Milo had tried to climb this staircase, had been during the pervious year's WIBAs when they had collapsed as a result of Murphy's Law. Nothing happened and Milo took another cautious step, and then another, and another and another.

In a few quick strides, Milo reached the top of the staircase and stepped onto the small landing. On the other side was the stage door. Milo crossed in the distance in a single stride and took hold of the door handle, which came off in his hand. Milo let the door handle fall to the floor, where it landed with a thud, and thrust a hand into his pocket, fishing for his wallet. Milo opened it, pulled out his student ID card and thrust it into the gap between the door and the door jam. He jimmied his student ID card back and forth three or four times. There was an audible metallic click and the door swung open.


	41. Chapter 41

Episode Fifty Four

As the door swung open, Milo found Zack, Melissa and Amanda standing in the door frame. They all had their phones out. The bright light emanating from their phones washed out Milo's night vision goggles, making him squint painfully. "Oh hi, guys," he said casually.

Milo's friends traded a relieved look. "We were about to come down and look for you," said Zack.

"You look like you've been in a sauna with your clothes on," said Amanda."Is everything OK?"

Milo shrugged. He pulled off his night vision goggles and stowed them in his backpack. "Everything's fine," he said, pushing his hair back off of his forehead. "A burst steam pipe and a ruptured water main. Easy-peasy."

Milo stepped past his friends and shut the door behind him. As the stage door swung shut, the four of them heard a distant rumble as the staircase leading down to the basement collapsed. The door handle came off in Milo's hand and he set it on a ledge next to the door. As his eyes readjusted to the semi-darkness, Milo looked around. The gym was bathed in the ruddy glow of the emergency lights. The other students had gone. Doubtless, they had determined that as Milo had put a hole through the stage floor and shorted out the gym's fuse box, the rehearsal for the award show had been cancelled.

Milo suddenly felt himself flush and he was glad that everything was still in semi-darkness. "Amanda-," he began, "I-."

Amanda pressed a finger to his lips. "Not one word," she said firmly. "Lets get the lights back on and finish setting up."

Something in Milo's brain clicked. _The fuse box_, he thought, suddenly remembering. With all the difficulties of getting out of the basement, Milo had momentarily forgotten that he had been looking for the fuse box so he could reset the circuit breakers and turn the lights back on. _I was going to reset the fuse box_, he thought. He gestured to the others. "C'mon," he said. "Let's go find the fuse box."

With the other trailing behind him, Milo quickly made his way from where he had emerged from the basement over to the gym's utility room. He pulled open the door to reveal a cramped space, the size of a closet. The ruddy glow of a single emergency light revealed walls of bare, unpainted cinderblocks and a scuffed looking vinyl floor. On one side stood a battered shelf laden with cleaning supplies. A mop and bucket stood in a corner. The fuse box was mounted on the opposite wall amid a tangle of cables. It was singed and smoking. An unlit fluorescent light hung from the ceiling. Milo stepped into the ruddy orange glare of the emergency light mounted over the door. He slid off his backpack and deposited it on the vinyl floor at his feet. Milo reached into his pocket, pulled out his electrician's gloves again and tugged them on. He felt his right hand throb slightly as he snugged his glove up over his wrist. Milo bent over and rummaged through his backpack and produced a screwdriver, pliers and wire strippers. He piled his tools on the ledge on top the fuse box and set about unscrewing the panel on the front of the fuse box. It came off easily in his hands, and Milo set it aside.

He peered into the interior of the fuse box and frowned. Zack peered over Milo's shoulder.

"That looks totally fried," he said.

Milo nodded in agreement. "Murphy's Law," he said. "Anything that can go wrong-."

"-will go wrong," finished Melissa.

Amanda stared hesitantly at Milo, and then at the fuse box, and then back at Milo. "Are you sure you can fix this?" she asked.

Milo peered into the fuse box again. "Yeah, sure," he said. "I've seen Dad rebuild the fuse box in the basement loads of times." He shrugged. "Like the time I got an electric train set for my seventh birthday."

Zack looked surprised. "I didn't know you collect model trains," he said.

Milo shrugged and started pulling things out of his backpack, searching for his electrical repair kit. He found it and took took out a handful of fuses. "I used to," he said, placing the collection of parts on top of the fuse box next to his tools. "I don't anymore."

"What happened?" asked Amanda.

"Model railroading is a surprisingly unpredictable hobby," replied Milo as he started pulling fried circuits out of the fuse box. "You'd be surprised how many thinks go wrong playing with model trains," he said. "Derailments, electrical fires, boiler explosions-."

Zack, Melissa and Amanda traded surprised looks. "How does a electrical train have a boiler explosion?" asked Melissa.

"Beats me," replied Milo with another shrug, "but, the hole in my living room wall was at least a foot wide. Anyway I got an electric train set for my seventh birthday and blacked out the entire east coast."

A look of dawning comprehension spread across Melissa's face. "So that _was_ you," she said. "I knew that had to be Murphy's Law, but Dad didn't agree." She smirked in satisfaction. "Looks like I get my $20.00 back."

Milo chuckled. "Well I'm glad I was able to help you win a bet," he said.

It only Milo twenty minutes to repair the fuse box. He screwed the cover back into place and flipped the large red plastic switch labelled, "MAIN BREAKER." It clicked into place with a solid sounding thunk. For a second or two nothing happened and Milo began to wonder if there was something else wrong with the fuse box that he had somehow missed. He had only just begun to mentally retrace his steps, to see where he had gone wrong, but no sooner had he started than the cramped utility closet was suddenly flooded with the hard, flat light coming from the fluorescent light fixture overhead. After the semi-darkness of the power outage and the dull orange glow of the emergency lights, everything seemed to stand out in high relief. Milos, Zack, Melissa and Amanda stood for several second, blinking painfully, their eyes screwed up against the sudden flood of blinding light.

After a second or two, when he was satisfied that the fuse box wasn't going to catch fire, explode or short itself out again, Milo slowly pried his eyes open. "Well, that's a job well done," he said. He gathered up his tools and repacked his backpack. The four teenagers filed out of the utility closet. The door hung open on its hinges and Zack clicked off the overhead light as he brought up the rear. They surveyed the gym. Everything was as it had been left when the other students had left following the blackout. Stacks of chairs were still scattered here and there around the room, the A/V equipment was half unpacked and the stage lights lay scattered haphazardly scattered around the stage.

"Looks like its up to us the finish the job," said Zack, surveying the scene.

"As usual," replied Melissa.

"Well, come on," said Milo. He started toward a stack of chairs. "The gym isn't going to set itself up." He picked up one of the collapsible chairs and it fell apart in his hands.

"Its OK, Milo," said Melissa, "we'll finish the rest of this."

Milo opened his mouth to protest, but before he could say anything, he was distracted by the sound of something soft fluttering to the floor. A banner that proclaimed

Jefferson G County Middle School

Varsity Chess Champions

8th Annual Tri-State Area Chess Tournament

2005

Had fluttered to the floor and landed in a puddle of fabric. As he watched several feet of Amanda's streamers joined it. Milo turned back to Melissa. "Point taken," he said. He gestured over his shoulder at the collapsed school banners and decorations. "I'll get a ladder." Milo walked back towards the stage, climbed the stairs and disappeared behind the curtain. He reappeared ten minutes later following a succession of loud bangs, carrying a telescopic ladder. He set it up and threw the fallen chess team banner over his shoulder. It draped down Milo's back and trailed on the ground like an overly large flag. For a second or two, Milo stood at the bottom of the ladder, his right foot resting on the bottom rung. When the ladder didn't collapse, Milo put his left foot on the bottom rung next to his right. After a couple of more seconds, he climbed the to the next rung, and then the next, and the next, and the next.

It only took him a minute or so to climb most of the way to the top of the ladder, where the school's banners hung just below the windows that ran around the outside of the building, just below the ceiling. Carefully letting go of the ladder with his right hand, Milo took hold of the end of the banner and pulled it through the rungs of the ladder. Milo was in the process of reaching back into his backpack for a hammer and nails when he suddenly lost his footing. Milo's arms windmilled wildly as he suddenly pitched over backwards. He reached for the banner in a effort to stop his fall, but his hand snapped closed on empty air and he braced himself for the hard, jarring thud of an impact with the floor of the gym. It never came. Instead Milo felt a painful jolt behind his knees. The rung that he had been standing on had lodged behind his knees and he suddenly realized that he was hanging upside down from the ladder. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the contents of his backpack scattered all over the floor. Zack, Melissa and Amanda were staring up at him, and he realized that they must have been alerted by the clatter of falling objects.

"Milo-," said Amanda, looking up at him.

"-are you OK?" Zack finished.

Milo nodded. "Oh, yeah," he said, nodding from his inverted position and giving them a thumbs up. "I'm fine." He reached up and took hold of the end of the banner which was dangling above him just above the level of his waist and with a little effort pulled himself upright into a sitting position. Milo untangled the banner from around his ankles and carefully stood up. He stood very still, as if waiting for something to happen. When the rung he was standing on didn't break and the ladder didn't collapse, Milo carefully lowered himself down to the next rung, then the next and the next and the next. He reached the foot of the ladder and placed his feet firmly on the scuffed hardwood. Milo shrugged off his backpack and set it on the ground. He bent over and proceeded to start gathering its scattered contents. After a few minutes, with Zack, Melissa and Amanda's help. Milo had repacked his backpack. He put his climbing helmet of his head, buckled the clasp and cinched his harness extra tight. He could feel the straps squeezing his thighs. Milo took hold of the climbing rope and give it a tug to ensure that it was firmly secured. It was. He placed his foot on the bottom rung of the ladder and once again waited a second or two for something to happen. When nothing did, he climbed back put to where the banner still lay draped over the broken rung.

Milo stopped on the rung below and with his left had maintaining a firm grip on the ladder rail, he reached into his backpack with his right hand and extracted a hook which he hung on the rung above the broken one. He rummaged through his backpack and extracted his hammer and a couple of nails. Holding the end of the banner in place with his palm and the nail between his thumb and forefinger, Milo carefully hammered the nail into position. When he was sure that the nail was secure and that the banner wasn't going to fall, Milo climbed down from his perch, moved his ladder to the end of the empty space where the banner had hung. When Milo was finished fixing the other end of the banner back into place he retrieved his backpack, slipped it back onto his shoulders and started to climb back down to the ground. When he got to the ground, Milo retrieved the fallen streamers that Amanda had put up earlier, climbing the ladder once again, this time stopping half way up. He pulled out his hook again and once again hung his backpack from it. Milo thrust his hand into his backpack once again, this time producing a tube of glue and a stapler, which he used to reaffix Amanda's decorations to the wall. When he was finished, he climbed down and repacked his climbing tackle. When he had finished putting the ladder away, Milo stood back and admired his handywork.


	42. Chapter 42

Episode Fifty Five

As the WIBAs got closer, Milo felt himself getting nervous again. The dress rehearsal that had been scheduled for the previous week and had been cancelled as a result of the blackout in the gym, took place after school on the Tuesday before the awards show. To Milo's surprise, the dress rehearsal went perfectly.

"That looked great," said Amanda, when the rehearsal was finished.

"Yeah," replied Zack, "hopefully, Milo won't get stuck in the basement again like he did last year."

Milo chuckled. "Hopefully," he said, "but with Murphy's Law you never can tell."

The last few days before the WIBAs seemed to drag by with almost interminable slowness, which didn't really help Milo's nerves. There were butterflies in his stomach as he buttoned his good dress shirt over his body armour two hours before the the ceremony on the following Saturday. There was a knock on Milo's bedroom door. He pulled on his black dress pants and padded across the room in his stocking feet. He cracked open the door, to reveal Brigitte standing on the other side.

"Oh, hi Mom," he said, tightening his belt.

"Are you almost ready, Milo?" she asked.

Milo stood in front of the mirror on the back of his bedroom as he knotted his bow tie and shrugged on his formal jacket. Milo retrieved his backpack from where it he habitually hung it, on the back of his desk chair. "Oh, yeah, Mom," he said. "I'm almost ready. I'll be down in a second."

"Well, hurry up, Milo," she said. "Your father's waiting in the car."

"OK, Mom," he said. "I'll be right down."

Milo thrust his feet into his black loafers and pulled his heavy winter coat on over his suit. He examined his reflection in the mirror. No sooner had Milo straightened his bow tie and pulled a comb through his hair one last time, than the mirror on the back of his bedroom door shattered with the sound of tinkling glass. He quickly swept up the broken shards, shouldered his backpack and opened the door. Milo walked down the hall to the usual clatter of pictures falling off the walls. He got as far as the top of the stairs, when the floor gave way beneath him. Milo was suddenly in free fall. He landed with a thud on the living room sofa. He sat very still for a moment waiting for something else to happen. He was surrounded bits of wood and carpet and there was plaster dust in his hair.

Milo started to get up from the sofa, but no sooner had he begun to move, than the floor collapsed and Milo and the sofa landed in a cloud of plaster dust and a shower of bits of wood and carpet in the basement. Milo got up from the sofa before the dust settled. _Well, I'm pretty sure tonight can't get any worse than this,_ he thought. Dusting himself off again, Milo picked himself up from the broken remains of the living room sofa. He looked upward eyeing the hole in the living room floor. He could see from the basement through to his bedroom ceiling. _That's going to be expensive_, he thought. Milo's phone rang. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and tapped the screen. His caller ID said, "Dad." Milo tapped his screen again and put his phone to his ear.

"Milo?" asked Martin. "Where are you? Is everything all right?"

Milo blinked. He had momentarily forgotten that Martin, Brigitte and Sara were waiting for him in Martin's Range Rover in the driveway. "Yeah, Dad, I'm fine," replied Milo. "I'm in the basement. I'll be right up." It took Milo fifteen minutes extricate himself from the basement. He had to reset set the fuse box, when the circuit breaker blew and turned off the gas when the furnace died. He threaded his way through the sundry boxes and broken bicycles and sports equipment that filled Milo's basement. Milo made his way up the basement stairs without incident. He heard the sound of the basement stairs collapsing as he shut the basement door.

The drive from Milo's house to the school took half an hour. Martin had to pull into a gas station parking lot and change both of his back tires six blocks from the school. When they finally arrived, they joined a long line of cars waiting to pull into the school parking lot. The school was lit up by large floodlights and a banner across the front of the school proclaimed, "The 38th Annual Winter Break Awards!" Martin pulled into the parking lot and shut off the engine. They opened the doors and piled out. Milo and his family followed the stream of people flowing from the parking lot around the front of the school to the school courtyard.

The school courtyard, between the school and the gym was roped off with velvet rope. There was a line of people waiting to get in. Elliot was standing at the entrance checking names off against a list on a clipboard. He was wearing his usual fluorescent orange safety vest over a slightly faded looking dark brown suit.

Milo got in line. Brigitte gave him a kiss and Milo flushed slightly. "Good luck, Milo," she said. "We'll see you inside after the show."

"OK, Mom," he said. As Martin, Brigitte and Sara walked away, he heard Sara say, "he's bound to get on stage this year."

"Oh, hi, Milo." He turned and found that Zack, Melissa and Amanda had materialized next to him, without him noticing.

"Oh, hi guys," replied Milo. The line of people inched slowly forward as Elliot crossed names off of his list.

"So, you're actually presenting this year," said Zack.

Milo shrugged and traded a conspiratorial look with Amanda. "Yeah," he said, "I let myself get talked into it." Milo felt his stomach flutter slightly at the thought and he had work at pushing the sensation away.

Melissa looked surprised. "Really, Milo?" she said, "I thought you didn't really like public speaking, I mean after the thing with the dinosaurs and all-"

Milo started to say, "Well, I-," but Zack was looking back and forth between his two best friends. "Wait, OK," he said. "Milo has a dislike of public speaking-"

"Well," said Milo, "its more like a mildly paralyzing anxiety, but yeah-"

"OK," said Zack slowly, "and this is connected to dinosaurs how, exactly?"

Milo shrugged. "Easy," he said. "I tried to give a speech once and a herd of dinosaurs appeared." He quickly told Zack the story of the speech competition and the chaos it had wrought when Milo and Melissa had been in the fourth grade.

Zack looked wide eyed at Milo and Melissa when they had finished talking. "So," he said slowly, "you have a fear of public speaking because of dinosaurs."

Milo nodded. "Yeah," he said. He felt the butterflies fluttering in his stomach again. The sudden discussion of his dislike of public speaking wasn't helping his nerves and he tool a deep steadying breath. Milo had to work at pushing away the fluttering sensation in his stomach.

Melissa started to say, "You have a fear of fish," to Zack, but she was interrupted before she could get the words out.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Milo Murphy." They all turned at the sudden sound.

"Hi, Elliot," said Milo, cheerfully.

Elliot stared suspiciously at Milo. "What are you doing here, Murphy?" he asked. "Don't you have somewhere else to menace?"

"No," said Milo simply.

Zack and Melissa traded a shared look of exasperation and rolled their eyes. "Oh come on, Elliot," said Melissa, "Milo is one of this year's presenters."

Elliot stared at Milo suspiciously again and then stared down at the clipboard in his hand. He ran his eye down the list on his clipboard, as if he was hoping that Milo's name wouldn't be on it. Elliot's face fell, as if someone had just cancelled his birthday. He stepped reluctantly aside, allowing Milo and his friends to enter the roped-off courtyard. "Alright," he said, "but I'm keeping my eye on you, Murphy. If anything goes wrong, don't say I didn't warn you."

Milo, Zack Melissa and Amanda all looked at each other. "But things go wrong around Milo all the time," replied Zack. "Everybody knows that."

It was Elliot's turn to look confused. "But-I-well, just keep Milo far away everything tonight," he stammered at last.

Milo chuckled and shrugged. "Sorry Elliot," he said. "It doesn't really work like that."

"Especially, as Milo is one of the presenters this year," interjected Amanda.

"Milo is actually presenting this year?!" exclaimed Elliot. "Whose bright idea was that?"

"Mine," replied Amanda acidly. "We were short a presenter and I asked Milo and he said yes."

"It'll be fine, Elliot," interjected Melissa. She nodded at her best friend. "You know Milo, he prepares for everything-,"

Elliot was emphatically shaking his head. "No, no, no," he said. "I have to talk to Principal Milder and put a stop to this." As if on cue, his clipboard into flames, He dropped it instinctively and stamped out the flames. He glared at Milo. "You see, Murphy?" he said. "You're a danger, a hazard, menace and several other types of disasters."

Milo, Zack, Melissa and Amanda all stared at each other, momentarily confused. "I wasn't aware that there were such as a types of disasters," replied Milo.

Melissa shrugged, "well I guess you learn something new everyday," she said.

Milo reached into his backpack and pulled out clipboard with a sheaf of paper on in. He held it out for Elliot to take, who accepted it only with the greatest reluctance, as if it were something obscene.

"What's this?" he asked.

Milo shrugged casually. "It's a spare copy of the guest list," he said. "I was on the WIBA planning committee this year," he explained, "so I made a few copies, you know in case of Murphy's Law."

"See, Elliot?" said Zack, "Milo prepares for everything."

Elliot rifled through the sheaf of papers that Milo had just handed him, as if looking for something amiss. When he couldn't find anything, he said, "alright, Murphy, but I'm keeping my eye on you."

"OK, Elliot," replied Milo. "You never know when you need a second pair of eyes to watch your back."


	43. Chapter 43

Episode Fifty Six

Milo was suddenly aware of Amanda tugging on his arm. She was guiding him toward the gym. "Come on," she said, "we have to be back stage in ten minutes."

Milo nodded. "OK," he said. "We should get going, then."

"Good luck, buddy," replied Zack.

As Amanda led Milo away, he heard Melissa say, "Milo is definitely going to get on stage this year, I can feel it."

Milo was suddenly aware of the fluttering sensation in his stomach again and swallowed hard. He felt as though he wanted to throw up. _Why are aliens and superheroes and time travel easy, and this is hard? _he asked himself. It wasn't the first time he'd asked himself that question. He was suddenly and forcibly reminded of the three months it had taken him to work of the nerve to ask Amanda to go out to lunch with him. Milo glanced at her from out the corner of his eye. She was wearing a pale blue satin dress, which made her seem as she was floating just above the ground. He was suddenly aware of Amanda looking at him.

"Milo?" she asked, "Is everything alright?"

Milo flushed, as if she had caught him doing something embarrassing. "Oh," he stammered, "I-umm," Milo quickly cast around trying to think of something to say. "I was just thinking that that colour looks nice on you," he finished. Inside, Milo felt like he wanted to die. _Really, Milo_?he thought, _that colour looks nice on you? Couldn't you find something to-_

Milo's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Amanda speaking. "Oh," she said. Milo noticed that she was blushing. "Thanks."

They left the flow of people heading toward the gym's main entrance and went around a corner to a side door. Milo had a sudden flashback to being locked out of the gym the previous year. He took hold of the door handle and turned it. It came off in his hand. Milo sighed to himself. _So much for getting on stage the easy way_, he thought.

"Milo," asked Amanda, "are we locked out?"

Milo looked at her sheepishly. "Ummm, yeah, sorry Amanda," he said. He cast an eye upward at the window over the door. It had been replaced with one that didn't open. Milo mentally ran through the contents of his backpack. _Well, we could try the roof,_ he thought. "How are you at climbing?" he asked.

"I went rock climbing with my cousin, Luis last summer in Arizona," she said. "It was fun."

"OK," said Milo, shrugging off his backpack. He had half expected her to balk. _This might not be as hard as I thought it was going be_, he thought to himself, _but then again, she skateboards and I didn't see that coming either._ He had suddenly been reminded of the party they had thrown for Zack the previous year after he had broken his leg unveiling a new interpretive dance routine. In a curious coincidence, Amanda had broken her arm not long afterward, after she had taken a spill on her skateboard. Milo set his backpack on the ground and rummaged through it, quickly extracting twin climbing harnesses, helmets, tackle and his grappling hook. Milo put his helmet on his head and buckled the chin strap. He handed the other helmet and harness to Amanda. She put the helmet on her head and buckled the chin strap with a click. She paused momentarily, blushing slightly.

"Ummm….Milo, do you mind turning around?" asked Amanda. She gave him a significant look.

It look a second or two for Milo to register her question. Then it clicked. The climbing harness he had handed her didn't exactly go with Amanda's dress, which fell down past her knees.

"Oh," replied Milo, blushing slightly, "umm….right." Milo turned around, strapping on his own harness while he waited for Amanda to finish.

"You can look now."

Milo turned. Amanda's long dress was mostly bunched up around her thighs. Milo judged that she shouldn't have any trouble climbing, but her dress was probably ruined. He bent down and picked up his grappling hook from where he had dropped it on to the concrete. Milo hefted it in his right hand, testing the weight. He let about a foot of rope play out through his fingers. "Stand back," he said. "This thing swings pretty fast." Amanda nodded and took several steps backwards out of range of Milo's grappling hook. He let it swing back and forth several times in a long, slow arc, mentally calculating distance and trajectory. He suddenly swung it with a loud swish in a wide circle over his shoulder. With a practiced flick of his wrist, Milo let go of the rope and the grappling hook went sailing upward. The attached rope trailed behind it, describing a lazy arc.

With a metallic clatter, Milo's grappling hook landed on the roof of the gym. He tugged on the rope, which gave a little, then held firm. Milo reshouldered his backpack, then tied his harness on the dangling rope. Amanda did the same. He put a loafered foot flat against the side of the building and hauled himself upward.

It took Milo and Amanda ten minutes to scale the side of the building. The roof of the gym was wide and flat. The only thing the break the monotony was the square block of the air conditioning system. Milo frowned to himself. There appeared to be no access to the roof from inside the gym. He had been on the roof of the school several times before and knew that there was a stairwell that led down into the school. He had hoped that the same might be true here. _Apparently not,_ he thought to himself. Milo eyed the AC unit again. Large square air ducts radiated out from it, penetrating through the roof and into the gym, which took up most of the building's internal volume. _I think we can fit through those_, thought Milo, _it'll be tight but-_

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Amanda's voice. "Milo?" she asked, she had already taken off her climbing harness, which she handed to him, "how are we supposed to get inside?"

"I have an idea," replied Milo. "Follow me." He walked over to the air conditioning unit, which immediately sputtered and died. Thin tendrils of smoke curled upward into the night air from the air conditioner's fried wiring. Milo let his backpack fall to the ground and rummaged through it. He extracted a screwdriver and set about unscrewing the screws holding the duct work to in place.

Amanda looked sceptically at Milo. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked.

Milo spoke without stopping what he was doing. "Admittedly, no," he replied. "I was hoping that there would be roof access from inside the gym, but there isn't. This is only other way I can think of to get into the gym." He finished removing all the screws and with some effort pulled the segment of ductwork that he had detached out of position and off to one side. He rummaged through his backpack again, this time producing two headlamps. He handed one to Amanda and kept the other for himself.

Amanda took the proffered headlight with a skeptical look. "Are you sure we can fit in there?" she asked. The interior of air duct was pitch black. The darkness within made it seem extra small. "Have you done anything like this before?"

Milo shrugged and nodded. "I think it it'll be a bit tight," he replied, "but we should fit. I've never been inside the school's air conditioning system before, but I'm sure it it'll be fine." He bent down and crawled into the open air duct. It was a _very_ tight fit. The air duct was only barely wider than the width of Milo's shoulders. It was only just tall enough for Milo crouch on all fours with his backpack on his back. The air duct acted like an echo chamber, every movement reverberated loudly. Milo paused momentarily and clicked on n his headlamp. He blinked reflexively as the light from his headlamp reflected brightly off of the polished stainless steel walls of the air duct. He heard echoing noises behind as Amanda bent down and crawled into the air duct behind him.

Milo started to crawl forward to give her space. He had gone no more than ten feet when he felt himself suddenly pitch forward. He tried to press his palms the against the sides of the duct, but it was no good. Milo felt himself starting slide. He hit the bottom with a bang that echoed loudly in the confined space. He felt his backpack pressing heavily against his shoulder blades. He tasted blood in his mouth and spit out a tooth. Before he could move, Milo heard a shout from somewhere above and behind him and realized that Amanda had fallen into the same void that he had.

Before he could even begin to move, Milo felt something pressing against his lower legs and realized that his feet were pinned under Amanda's upper torso.

"Milo?" she asked, "are you OK?"

From his partially inverted position, Milo nodded. "Yeah," he replied, "I'm fine. I just need a minute." He had already worked out how to get out his fix and began to wriggle down and forward and after a few minutes had flattened himself out again. He heard Amanda sliding down into the space Milo had just vacated. Milo half turned and looked over his shoulder. In the glare of his headlamp, he saw Amanda upside down and partially sprawled on her upper torso.

"Are you OK, Amanda?" Milo asked over his shoulder.

She gave an upside down nod. "I think so," she said. She spied his bloody tooth lying on the bottom of the air duct, crusted in drying blood. "Milo, I think you might have-"

"-lost a tooth?" he finished. As Milo unintentionally probed the spot with his tongue where his back right molar our had been knocked. It throbbed and he had to force himself to stop. "Yeah, I know," he replied. "It wouldn't be the first time."

She slowly pulled herself forward until she was cLear of the bottleneck. "So, how do we get out of here?" she asked.

_That's a good question, _Milo thought to himself. He thought for a second, trying to remember what the gym's ventilation system looked from the outside. He drew a blank. He'd never been inside the ventilation system before. He was having trouble visualizing where all the ductwork was located. He need to be able to see it from the outside and he couldn't. Milo frowned to himself, wondering how he was going to get out of this situation.


End file.
